My Family
by three-days-late
Summary: "Tell me about your family. Who's in it? What do they do? Is there anyone you don't get to see that often?" Arthur finds out his parents died. This leads to the question: who gets to take care of Peter?
1. My Germanic Family

**Just realized I haven't put this up here yet. This was based of a random discussion on the Hetalia Livejournal Community about who's part of what family exactly. I've based it off the language families, thus why the Nordics and England are in here. There are other essays, and drabbles, that I will get up later.**

**Watch out for some intentional fail!grammar, and a little Austria/Hungary, FrUK, and SuFin. Also Clara = Belgium, Rupert = Netherlands, Mathis = Denmark, Nikolas = Norway, Tumi = Iceland. Enjoy.**

**And I don't own Hetalia, or the characters, or their respective countries.  
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My Family  
By Ludwig Beilschmidt: Age 8**

My family is me, my brother Gilbert, and Vati. Vati works a lot. I don't know what he does, but I don't really see much of him, so I do most of the cleaning because Gilbert doesn't like to.

Gilbert is 19 and spends a lot of time working in his room and makes weird noises, explosions, and smells, but he still finds time between that and school to play with me. Playing with Gilbert is fun, but sometimes we have to leave really quickly before Gilbert's friends find us and take Gilbert away again. The last time they did that he came home beaten up and I had to call Roderich and Gilbert didn't like that.

Since Vati is gone a lot, it's just me and Gilbert in the house so Cousin Roderich and Cousin Vash and Cousin Heidi are always over. Roderich is 20 and lives next door with his wife Elizaveta who's really nice to me but hits Gilbert with a frying pan sometimes when he's being stupid, which is a lot.

Vash is 23 and Heidi is 6 and they live down the street. I'm not sure what Vash does, but he always has a gun on him. Roderich says that's because he's a cop, but Gilbert says he isn't. Vash says he'll tell me when I'm older.

They always come over after Vash picks Heidi up from school so Vash can play with Gilbert and Roderich. They never let us play, so Heidi and I go off on our own to play. Since Heidi is younger than me I got to protect her from some of the other kids because they like to pick on her. One time Ivan from down the street started picking on her and making her cry so I punched him in the face. Roderich scolded me and sent me to my room without supper, but Vash and Gilbert snuck me some wurst and cheese and told me I did a good job.

Sometimes Cousin Clara and Cousin Rupert come from out of town and stop by and visit. Clara is 21 and always gives me and Heidi chocolate and Vash gets mad because he says his is better but they both taste the same to me. Gilbert always challenges Clara to a drinking contest and she always drinks him under the table which always puts Vash and Roderich in a good mood.

Rupert is 23 and he doesn't really talk very much but he always plays football with me and Heidi and Gilbert if he's still conscious. Rupert's really good but sometimes he lets us win. He doesn't really like the neighbors though and sometimes beats them up whenever he's here. It's always fun when they stop by though.

On Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Cousin Arthur and his wife Francis and Cousin Alfred and Cousin Matt and Cousin Jake come over. Arthur is 23 and he always gives me these scone things which are really disgusting but Roderich makes me eat anyway because it's 'polite.' I put up with it though because then Arthur lets me play with his fairy friends. He and Francis fight a lot so Arthur ends up drinking with Gilbert while Francis tries to get into Roderich's and Vash's pants whatever that means.

Alfred is 8 and Matt and Jake are 7 and me and Heidi have to play with them. Alfred is really loud and bossy and messy but he comes up with a lot of fun games to play. Matt usually just does whatever Alfred says and Jake ends up wrestling whatever animals we come across. Matt and Alfred say Jake is adopted.

One time Gilbert and I went on a vacation to get away from the fuzz, which made no sense because I had just cleaned, but Gilbert insisted so we went really far out of town to visit our Second Cousins Mathis, Berwald, Nikolas, and Tumi.

Mathis is 21 and was really excited to see us but spent most of our visit drinking with Gilbert. I didn't really see much of either of them after that.

Nikolas is 18 and he's Mathis's cousin. He had a bunch of fairy and troll friends that he let play with but when he went to play with Mathis and Gilbert they left too.

Tumi is 15 and he's Nikolas's brother. He played with me sometimes, but he spent most of the time out or by himself which was weird. He said he had more important things to do than babysit me, but I'm not a baby, I'm 8, so I don't know what his problem was.

Berwald is 21 and he's Tumi's cousin. He was really really scary when I first met him, but he had a dog named Hanatamago (his wife, Tino, picked the name) and he let me play with her. Berwald was actually real nice and played with me a lot.

Berwald was taking care of Arthur's little brother Peter, who I heard lots about but never met until then. Peter spent a lot of the time showing me around and telling me why Arthur was a jerk, but Arthur is family and Vash says that family is really important so I don't really buy it.

And that's my family.

* * *

Toris sighed and rubbed his temples. Sometimes of the children in his class had really messed up families, and considering his own, that's saying something. Maybe this wasn't such a good assignment after all; he felt the need to have child services on speed dial after that one.

Still, he mused, it wasn't nearly as bad as that Vargas kid's…


	2. My Romantic Family

**Mai Famiglia means My Family in Italian, in case it wasn't obvious. Yes, this is Italy's version of the same essay. He...likes to ramble about pasta. This also includes mentions of FrUK and some fail!grammar.  
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**Oh, and Roma = Rome, Sergio = Cuba, Angelique = Seychelles, Kathryn = Romania. I also forgot to mention this last time, but Heidi = Liechtenstein and Jake = Australia. They're not in here though.**

**Enjoy.  
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Mai Famiglia  
By Feliciano Vargas: Age 8**

I really really wanted to draw a picture of my family instead because I'm not so good with words and I really really like to draw but Lovino hit me on the head and said that it was a writing assignment so I had to write and really I just want pasta right now but I won't get any until I finish.

My family is me and my brother Lovino and our Grandpa Roma. Grandpa is really old but he never acts his age and he plays with us all the time and loves us a lot and I love him very much and Lovino does too I'm sure although he never says it and I'm hungry. I don't really know what happened to our parents because Grandpa doesn't like to talk about it and he gets all sad and it makes me sad so we don't talk about it. Grandpa's friends are really big and they wear suits and call him Boss and they're real nice to me and get me presents but Lovino says I should stay away and he's older and knows things but Grandpa plays with them all the time so they're okay.

Lovino is my brother and he's 11 and he won't get me pasta. A lot of people say we're twins because we look alike but we're not, we're just brothers. Lovino is always watching out for me because he's my big brother and that's what big brother's do. Like that one time when all those big mean scary guys showed up and Lovino had us hide in the closet until Grandpa came home and I was scared and he was scared but he hid it so I wouldn't worry because he's a good brother like that. Lovino acts mean and tough but he's really a scaredy cat like me and he tries to protect me but he can't really protect himself most of the time. I love him anyway because he's my brother even if he won't get me pasta.

Cousin Antonio is 22 and he comes to visit us lots because he says we're his favorites. Lovino says he doesn't like him but I think he's just saying that because he's always in a better mood when Antonio comes over. Antonio likes to give us lots of hugs and kisses and tomatoes until Grandpa makes him stop because he says we're Grandpa's grandkids and not Antonio's which is true. Antonio likes to tell us how good and cute we are which makes me happy but Lovino doesn't like it much and usually head butts him but Antonio doesn't seem to mind because he just laughs it off. Antonio is a really happy person and he's always smiling and having fun so he's fun to be around.

Sometimes Antonio brings a lot of his little cousins to play with us. Lovino says he kidnaps them because they don't look anything like him and they all hate him but Antonio wouldn't do something like that. I don't really remember most of their names though, except Sergio. Sergio was 13 and he kept trying to smoke all these cigars he had on him but Antonio kept taking them away and saying that second hand smoke kills whatever that means. When Antonio went to play with Grandpa Sergio took us out for ice cream and he was really nice about it and me and Lovino had fun that day even though Lovino says he didn't. I asked Antonio one time what happened to him but he just said he'd tell me when I'm older. Adults always say that and I'm still hungry.

Cousin Francis is 25 and he comes over a lot too. Lovino really doesn't like him, not like Antonio where he says he doesn't like him but really does but like, he really doesn't like Francis. Francis doesn't seem to care because he's always kissing and hugging us, which is fine but he always accidently plays with that one hair that makes me feel weird and Grandpa gets angry and tells him to stop. I like it when Francis come by though because he's always telling us funny stuff and giving us weird things and he cooks us really delicious food. But ever since he got married his wife Arthur has been giving us really gross sconey things too and those are just bad.

Francis stops by a lot but he usually only brings Arthur and Cousin Alfred and Cousin Matt and Cousin Angelique on special occasions which is good because Arthur's scones suck. It's sad too because Alfred and Matt and Angelique are fun to play with even though Lovino says they're just stupid half breeds whatever that means. But whenever he says that Matt cries and Alfred and Angelique beat him up.

Alfred is 8 like me and he's really bossy and stuff but he's still fun to play with. We always try to find the Atmosphere book that everyone keeps talking about but we can never find it. Matt is 7 and sometimes we forget that he's there but he plays with us lots too. Angelique is 7 too and she's always telling Alfred off for being stupid or annoying and she likes eating Grandpa's fish stuff a lot. I think she's adopted but Francis says that's really none of my business when I ask him. Lovino says that means she's a bastard and whenever he says that Grandpa makes him eat soap which tastes better than Arthur's scones but is still gross.

Um…I think that's it and I want pasta, but Lovino reminded me that we have a Second Cousin named Kathryn who's from Romania and we've only met once when she came over to yell at Grandpa for some reason and Lovino and I had to hide in the closet again.

Okay that's everyone so I'm going to go eat now.

* * *

Toris banged his head against his desk repeatedly. Become and Elementary School Teacher, they said. It will brighten up your life, they said. They forgot to mention that every child's family in the area was freaking crazy in more ways than one.

Sometimes he really wished he went to dental school.

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**Anon Reviews:**

**Red Roses2: **Thank you! Sorry...do you want me to list them? Yeah, I'll list them...

Ludwig - Germany

Vati (which is just German for 'Dad') - Germania

Gilbert - Prussia

Roderich - Austria

Elizaveta - Hungary

Vash - Switzerland

Heidi - Liechtenstein

Clara - Belgium

Rupert - Netherlands

Arthur - England

Francis - France

Alfred - America

Matthew - Canada

Jake - Australia

Mathis - Denmark

Nikolas - Norway

Tumi - Iceland

Berwald - Sweden

Tino - Finland

Peter - Sealand

Toris - Lithuania

That's everyone from last time. If you're still confused this time just ask and I'll make another list.

No, France and Finland are still male, and Ludwig is aware of that. It's more like he's still a child, and husbands have wives and that's just how the world works kind of deal. Does that make sense?

He protects...things for...people. It's all very vague and hush hush.


	3. My Asian Family

**Yup, today is Yong Soo's essay. And this needs some explaining.**

**So, in Word I was able to take advantage of things like the strikeout feature a. The strikeout could be transferred to livejournal easily, where this was first posted, so no problem there. Here though, the strikeout feature doesn't work so instead they are underlined. Please keep that in mind as it makes much more sense that way.**

**Mei = Taiwan, Kiet = Thailand. Yes I forgot Vietnam, sue me. Please don't I have no money. **

**Fun fact that you won't care about: Remember when I said the families were based of of language families? Korean and Japanese are actually not part of the same family as Chinese. Sometimes they're actually put in the same family as Turkish (at least Japanese is, for the most part), but really, it's more fun this way, right? :D  
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**Anyway, enjoy.  
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My Family  
By Im Yong Soo: Age 8 ½ **

I actually created my family! Way back in 5000 BC

_Yong Soo, this is __not __a creative writing assignment. I have trouble believing you are your own grandfather. Please stick to the facts and try again._

There are a lot of people in my family. There's me, who despite being the youngest everyone looks up to, and Hyung Yao who loves me very much despite what he says or how he acts, and Kiku who really just wishes he could be me, and Mei who worries a lot but is really cool, and Kiet who's pretty cool, but not as cool as me, and Hong who's just kinda weird.

Yao is 20ish maybe. I don't really know his really age. Anyway, he's my oldest big brother and he takes care of us. He took me in when I was really little because my parents didn't want me anymore, but that's okay because I like living with Yao better than them anyway. Yao makes me sweets all the time and lets me have all sorts of cool things…but then yells at me for taking his stuff, which really was all mine to begin with. He keeps saying that I was a lot cuter before but I know he still loves me.

Kiku is 16 and he's my brother too. He and Yao have started fighting a lot but Kiet says that's just Kiku being an angsty teen. I created hormones so I'm just going to skip that part of growing up. Kiku used to play with me a lot, but he's been playing with me less due to the growing up thing. He still lets me play all of his video games when he's done with them though and I still read through all of the comics he has in his room that I wrote so he still have lots of fun together.

Mei is 15 and she's my older sister. Since she's a teenager too she and Yao have been fighting too but it's not as bad. She likes flowers and has a garden in the backyard that's really pretty. Sometimes I help her plant stuff because I invented gardening and afterwards she'll usually take me out to lunch or out for ice cream if it's too late for lunch which is always nice.

Kiet is 18 and he's another older brother. He's surprisingly fun to play with when he's not busy studying. Kiet is really smart though and is going to become the best doctor in the world which makes sense because I invented medicine. He's going off to college soon though, so I won't get to play with him as much.

Hong is 10 and he's older than me, but Yao found him later after he found me. I didn't see him for a really long time though because Yao accidently lost Hong in an opium-induced gambling fit and he spent a lot of the past few years being raised by this Arthur guy _something happened and Hong got lost. He ended up very far from home where a kind man named Arthur Kirkland took care of him for a while until he was able to return home. Nothing illegal happened, aru._ Anyway, he doesn't talk much and I have trouble figuring out what he's thinking but he makes a lot of fireworks and lets me play with them too because I actually invented fireworks.

Sometimes Arthur comes to visit Hong. He brings us food, but it's not very good and usually just makes me sick but Yao makes me eat it anyway. Arthur has magic unicorn fairy friends that play with me sometimes though, so he's sorta cool.

Arthur brings by Cousin Alfred and Cousin Matt too. They're not really my cousins and technically their Hong's foster brothers but I call them cousin anyway. Alfred is 8 and Matt is 7 and they play some really weird games with Hong and me when they come over. Alfred is kinda bossy and stuff but he knows all of these cool sciency things and is fun to go exploring with. Matt is really quiet but is really smart and is fun to talk to. I like playing out with them.

And that's my family! That I created with my own two hands.

* * *

Toris blinked and read through the essay again, although it was difficult with all the cross-outs. Eventually he sighed and gave him an A. Compared to some of the other writing assignments Yong Soo had handed in, this would be considered relatively normal.


	4. My Awesome Family

**So now we have Alfred's essay about his Anglo-Franco family. Good times. Anyway, this has FrUK and mentions of SuFin, so yeah. Also like last time, the underlines are supposed to be crossouts.  
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**Jake = Australia, Angelique = Seychelles, Hong = Hong Kong, Heidi = Liechtenstein, Mathis = Denmark, and Nikolas = Norway.**

**I think that's everything. Enjoy.**

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My Family  
By Alfred F. ****Jones** _Your last name is __**Kirkland-Bonnefoy**__. Please stop saying otherwise. _**Age: 8**

My family is awesome! There's me, so clearly it's the best already and there's also Matt and Jake and Angelique. Oh and our Dad and Papa. They count too. And Hong! He lived with us for a while too and he counts!

Dad is 23 and he's from this small place called England where it's always raining and the food sucks. He takes us there sometimes 'cause he says we need some 'good culture' in our lives or whatever but all we do there is go watch these guys play Shakey Spears and it's boring. He always tries to cook for us too but that always ends in fail so Papa has to sneak us some of his cooking under the table. Sometimes though when he's not being a crotchety old man or whatever he'll tell us lots of fun stories about knights and dragons and heroes (like me) and princesses and quests! They're awesome and one day I'm going to be a hero and quest and stuff too!

Papa is 25 and he's French which Dad says is a bad thing but he married him so that means he loves him (deep, deep, deep, deep down) so I just don't know. He and Dad fight all the time and stuff so Jake and I have an ongoing game where if Dad storms out first Jake has to do my chores but if Papa does then I have to do his. Matt and Angelique say that we shouldn't 'play around with things like that' and their fighting is 'tearing us apart' but no one's dead yet so it's cool. Papa can actually cook too so we don't starve or anything and its great! But sometimes he cooks weird things like snails. Matt said they were a 'delicacy' or whatever and Angelique likes weird fishy stuff like that and Jake'll eat dirt if we told him it was food so I was the only one how found it weird. Still tasted better than anything Dad makes though.

Matt is my little brother and he's 7 and he looks just like me 'cause we've been together the longest. He has this stuffed bear that he carries with him and the other kids used to make fun of him for it but I beat them up when they did so they don't do that anymore. He's really shy and quiet but he's super smart too so he helps me with my Joe graph homework and stuff when I don't get it. He always comes with me when I go questing so he's like my sidekick, which Dad says would make him my squire. Yeah, when I become a hero Matt can be my sidekick and we'll fight crime and save the world together! Life will be awesome!

Jake is 7 too and he's my other little brother. Dad found him when I was 4 one day at Outback when he went traveling for work. He talks funny but he's really cool! He's always up for the adventures that Matt doesn't wanna do 'cause he's afraid he'll end up dead like that one time we went to Murder's Cove and almost got killed by the ghost of a serial killer who ate children who came to try to steal his treasure! It was scary and we almost died but Dad and Papa came at the last second to save us. We were grounded for like three months but it was so worth it. He also likes to wrestle wild animals and he's been secretly teaching me how. I'm getting better. At least the scratches aren't so bad anymore.

Angelique is 7 too and she's my little sister. Papa brought her home one day when I was 5 and said she was from a time before Dad (which doesn't make sense 'cause he and Dad have known each other since forever) and told Dad not to get mad but he did. Really mad. There was a lot of fighting and shouting and stuff throwing where Matt and Jake and me hid in our room until Dad stormed in and took Jake and me away for a while. We missed Matt and Papa and Papa's food though so Jake and me tried to go back but we got lost and Dad and Papa found us eventually and we all went home together. I don't know why Dad got made though 'cause Angelique is an awesome little sister. She's not afraid to go exploring like most girls so we can all go on adventures together! She adores Papa but she doesn't like Dad very much even though he's been really nice to her lately. She won't even come and visit Cousin Ludwig and Cousin Gilbert with us 'cause their related to Dad and not Papa so she stays home with a sitter.

Hong is about 10 now. Dad brought Hong home after a drunken night at the gambling placey thing _perfectly legal outing. He found poor Hong desolate and homeless on the side of the road and out of the kindness of his heart brought him in to our loving home _and he stayed with us for a few years. He was quiet so he and Matt got along great and he blew stuff up with firecrackers that he would make so he and me got along great too. He and Jake got along alright but Jake didn't like how he never knew what he was thinking or feeling and I think that creeped him out. He and Angelique didn't really talk much. He went back to his other family and me and Matt and Dad still visit him sometimes and play with his brothers, Cousin Yong Soo and Cousin Kiku and they're really fun! Yong Soo created and discovered like everything and Kiku has all these cool video games and comics in his room!

On the holidays we go and visit Ludwig and Gilbert. Gilbert's really awesome and he has this cute bird that he lets us pet. Jake and Matt and me play with Ludwig and Cousin Heidi while Dad and Gilbert get drunk and Papa flirts with everything with legs until he gets drunk too. Then he flirts with everything. Heidi's really shy and hangs off her brother a lot but she and Matt play together lots. Ludwig is kinda stiff for a kid but he knows all the cool places to play when we visit so Jake and I play with him lots.

Sometimes we go and visit Cousin Feliciano and Cousin Lovino too. Lovino is kinda a jerk to everyone and one time Jake hit him so hard he passed out and his Grandpa got really really mad at us so Jake isn't allowed to visit them anymore. Lovino is still a jerk but he runs away when Angelique or me try to beat him up. Feliciano is fun to play with though. He knows a lot of really fun games and can always find pasta and good food and stuff. The two of us have been trying to find the Atmosphere 'cause you keep saying I need to read it and he needs to read it too but we've looked and looked and looked and can't it anywhere.

Um, oh! One time this guy named Mathis and his cousin Nikolas showed up. Apparently they're my Second Cousins and they needed to borrow money or something and said it was really important. Dad agreed since their cousin Berwald who I haven't met is taking care of my Uncle Peter who I only met once a really long time ago. He's Dad's little brother and he's 6 so he's actually younger than me but I still have to call him Uncle. He doesn't like Dad very much so when Grandma and Grandpa died and Peter said he didn't wanna live with Dad and the rest of us Berwald and his wife agreed to take care of him. I dunno why he wouldn't want to live with us 'cause our family is awesome!

* * *

Toris blinked, read through it again, blinked, then sighed. Only Alfred…he couldn't even read most of it.

_Alfred:  
Next time, please don't wait until the last minute and do your homework on the drive to school. I can barley read your handwriting as is, and adding the movement of the car, this is almost illegible._

Of course, he mused, maybe its better he doesn't know what it says…


	5. My Slavic Family

**Today is Russia's essay. Banzai. Not much to say about this one except watch out for the ^_^.**

**Yeah, that's General Winter. Yeah, Ivan's an army brat. Katyusha = Ukraine, Natalia = Belarus, and AmeriBel happens to be one of my favorite het ships. Does that have a point? Who knows?**

**Enjoy!  
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My Family  
By Ivan Braginski: Age 8**

My family is pretty small right now, but it will get bigger and bigger until everyone is a part of it! Isn't that right Mr. Lorinaitis? ^_^

Right now it's just me and my sisters and our father whenever he's around. He's in the military so we usually just call him "General" and he's not around as much as we'd like because he's always busy. He's been pretty harsh and cold with us every since our mother died, but it's only because he loves us and that's the only way he can protect us. At least I hope that's what it is.

My older sister is Katyusha and she's 16. She tries really really hard to take care of us while General's away, but she has a lot of trouble just taking care of herself, so usually I do it. She has a lot of guys hanging around her because of what some of the locals tend to call her 'huge tracts of land.' I don't know what they're talking about because my sister is a person, not a country, but it still makes me feel…uncomfortable. I usually deal with such people myself, if Katyusha doesn't shake them first. She tends to cry a lot which drives most of the guys away. Katyusha likes to knit when she can and she made me a scarf one time for my birthday a while ago. It's mine and you can't have it. :(

My younger sister is Natalia and she's 5. She's a lovely young girl who General always says will grow up to become a fine young woman someday. She's a bit clingy though. Like, she refuses leave my side and throws tantrums and follows me everywhere kind of clingy. General says its fine and Katyusha says that just means she loves me…sometimes I wish she could love me a little less though. It's starting to get creepy when she tells me she thinks we should get married. I'm pretty sure no one has told her that siblings can't get married yet but sometimes I wonder if that would make a difference. We move around a lot though so it's hard for her to make real friends so she clings to me because I'm familiar. At least that's what the doctors have told me. I wonder why she doesn't cling to Katyusha sometimes…they're both girls…

I get it though. The last person outside our family that she got attached to was a kid named Alfred. He has two loving Dads and a really big, happy, family and it was nice when they invited us over for dinner. His parents were weird and me and him fought a lot but we enjoyed ourselves and his siblings were nice. ^_^ Alfred still writes to Natalia sometimes but we haven't seen him since we moved.

One time we moved into the same neighborhood as this Asian family. The youngest was a kid named Yong Soo and he was kind of annoying but really friendly and it was nice talking to him. His siblings were fun to have around to, especially his older brother Yao. Yao was really cute. ^_^ One day I want to become part of Yao's family too, but when I told him he just kind of smiled really stiff like and poured me more tea.

This other time we were next to this Italian family. They were so funny! General said we couldn't play with them because they were bad people, but they were so fun that I did anyway. The youngest would always give me really good pasta and talk with me about anything and everything. The older one would cry and scream and run away which made him look really cute. Its fun when they run away…chases are good too. ^_^

Recently we started living near this kid named Ludwig. His brother is nothing but trouble because General says so and he can smell trouble from a mile away so we can't play with him very much. His cousin Heidi is really sweet though and we can play with her. ^_^ She kind of looks like a boy, but Ludwig punched me once for pointing it out. Katyusha says I shouldn't have been rude like that though and Natalia wanted to stab him or something so I had to stop her.

We move around a lot because General is in the military so it's hard for us to make friends and we don't see any other family members that often. The only one I can think of is Cousin Feliks, but you already know about him, right Mr. Lorinaitis? ^_^

* * *

Toris shuddered and put the paper down. He's supposed to be the guiding post for these kids but frankly, Ivan just creeped him out.

"Like, what're you doing Liet?" His partner, who did just happen to be Ivan's cousin, asked from the doorway.

"Just grading essays. I'm actually doing your cousins right now…"

"Oh! Can I like, fail him?"

"You can't just fail him because you want to!"

"Naw, it's cool. He's always like being a brat and hitting me and stuff and I can't hit him back."

"He's 8!"

"Yeah, like I said, society like, frowns on it…so can I like fail him?"

"N-no Feliks, you can'! Just go back downstairs and I'll be there in a bit."

"Tch, you're no fun when you're in serious mode Liet."


	6. Germanic Family Drabbles

**I'm done with the essays for now. Sorry, but some of you did give me some ideas for more, so I'll try to get to them again after finals or something.**

**Anyway, now for something new: Snapshots into the Life of Ludwig Bielschimdt! I hope you enjoy it anyway?**

**Heidi = Liechtenstein, Vati = Germania, Jake = Australia, Angelique = Seychelles, Clara = Belgium, Rupert = Netherlands, Tumi = Iceland, Mathis = Denmark, Nikolas = Norway.  
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A Germanic Morning:**

Ludwig wakes up every morning at 7 AM and proceeds to knock on his brother's door.

"Mmrmgrmm?" comes the response.

"Bruder, it's 7. Please wake up and make breakfast." Then he goes to take a shower.

After his shower he knocks on his brother's door again.

"Whaaat?" Gilbert wines.

"Bruder, please make breakfast."

"It's only…SHIT!" Ludwig hears some crashes, meaning his brother is out of bed, and goes to get dressed.

When he arrives downstairs, Gilbert is at the stove making sausages and eggs and Roderich is seated at the table drinking coffee and reading the morning paper as if this actually was his house.

"Good morning Roderich," Ludwig greets.

"Good morning Ludwig. Are you ready for school?"

"Yes." He already prepared his bag and lunch the night before.

"And how about you Gilbert?"

"I don't have class until 10!"

"And yet you're still going to wait until 9:45 and run around gathering things at the last minute, aren't you?"

"No I'm not!"

Gilbert serves them breakfast, and usually that's when Vash and Heidi come in the back door.

"Good morning Vash, good morning Heidi," Ludwig greets.

"Good morning Ludwig," the both say simultaneously. Roderich gives Vash a nod and Heidi a smile. Gilbert places two more plates of food on the table.

They all sit down and have a relatively pleasant breakfast. Roderich passes the paper to Vash once he's done; Gilbert manages to sneak the sports and comics away from it in the process, much to the annoyance of Roderich, who then lectures him on the importance of keeping the paper in an orderly fashion. Ludwig and Heidi chat about school or cartoons or other children in the neighborhood until 8:45 rolls around.

"Time to go," Vash stands up and ushers the children out the door to drive them to school. Gilbert gives his brother a hug and hands him his lunch from the fridge.

When Roderich is done with his coffee, he politely leaves for work, reminding Gilbert that he has class soon and should start getting ready. Gilbert tells him to mind his own business and proceeds to play video games until 9:45, when he remembers he has class and scrambles to get ready, running out the door when he thinks he has everything.

**

* * *

Vati's Home:**

Ludwig was reading a book on the couch that night (it was Friday, so he didn't have school in the morning and could stay up reading as late as he wanted). Gilbert was playing in his room as he had been all night, the banging and explosions distracting Ludwig, thus why he relocated to the couch downstairs instead. He noticed headlights coming through the window out of the corner of his eyes and knew it could only mean one thing:

Vati was home.

He quickly shut his book and hurried upstairs to knock on Gilbert's door.

"Ludwig! I told you not to disturb me when-"

"Vati's home," was all he said, all he really needed to say.

"Shit!" Some scrambling and sound of some things breaking was heard even through the door as his brother attempted to hide his new project. Ludwig went back downstairs just in time to see his father open the door and walk inside.

The man looked tired, as he always did, as he took off his coat and hung it up on one of the hooks by the door, long hair flowing behind him.

"Vati!" Ludwig called as he ran downstairs and wrapped his arms around his father. Not quite knowing how to react, he awkwardly patted the young boy's head before wrapping an arm around him as well.

"I missed you, Ludwig," he said softly. Ludwig nodded.

"Welcome home Vati."

**

* * *

Big Mean Stinky Ivan:**

"Your hair is so short!" he exclaimed as he pulled at it.

"P-please stop it…it hurts…" she protested.

"You look like a boy! It's weird because you're a girl, right? You're a girl right?" he gave her hair a vicious yank.

"Ow! Y-yes, I'm a girl…p-please let go…"

"You really do look like a boy! You should just be a boy from now on, yes? Makes more sense that way." He pulled her hair again.

"P-please leave me alone!" she practically shouted, near tears.

"Ivan…" a dangerous new voice said from behind him.

"Yes?" he turned, eager to meet this new challenger.

BAM

"Leave my cousin alone. Now."

**

* * *

Playing With Alfred:**

"So, I'm The Hero-"

"You're always The Hero mate."

"Because I _am_ The Hero! It only makes sense! Heidi gets to be The Chick since Angelique isn't here."

"I-I'll do my best!"

"Don't worry. You won't have to do anything too hard."

"Matt! There you are! You wanna be The Lancer or The Smart Guy?"

"Oh, it doesn't really matter…"

"The Smart Guy it is! Ludwig, that leaves you with The Lancer or The Big Guy."

"You're just going to pick it for me like you always do."

"The Big Guy it is! Okay Jake that makes you The Lancer."

"I wanna be The Hero this time!"

"I told you I'm The Hero! You be The Lancer and like it!"

"Can we just play already? The sun's about to set and I don't see why these titles matter when we're just going to run around in the woods."

"Sheesh Ludwig, you don't know a thing about how to have a proper adventure! Okay Team, let's move out!"

**

* * *

Crazy Cousin Rupert**:

"Cousin Rupert," Ludwig asked as they sat on the porch enjoying a nice cool drink. Heidi and Vash had gone home a while ago, and Roderich was trying to stop Gilbert from streaking through the neighborhood again while Clara got it all on video.

"What's up kid?"

"Why don't you like our neighbors? You're always glaring at them and stuff."

"Ah, I guess you're too smart for me to get things by you," he ruffled his hair and stared contemplatively out at the street. "How old are you now?"

"8 ½."

"I suppose that's old enough…you'd find out sooner or later anyway…the illegal alien conspiracy."

"Illegal aliens?" Ludwig pictured small grey aliens speeding and beating people up on Martian highways.

"Yes. They're everywhere you know..."

"Really, even here?" The grey aliens had somehow gotten a hold of fedoras and were flying their rocket ships across the galaxy.

"Especially here! Be wary Ludwig, you can never know who's an illegal alien and who isn't until it's too late…they could be anyone!"

The grey aliens had landed on Earth, zipped into their human suits, and started wandering around town acting just like everyone else. "Anyone?"

"Yes, anyone. Your grocer, your banker, your librarian, heck even your teacher! They could be anyone."

Mr. Lorinaitis had excused himself from class and stepped into the Teacher's Lounge where he immediately zipped out of his human suit along with all of the other teachers as they laughed evilly. "R-really?"

"Yes…look out for yourself, Ludwig. They're here, and they're up to something…"

The grey aliens had invaded the government buildings all over the world. Armies were sent to stop them but wait…all of the high ranking officers were aliens too! Soon the human race had no choice but to submit to them! What was once Legal is now Illegal and vice versa! The world is in complete chaos!!

Ludwig shook his head. Aliens taking over the world? Ridiculous. The mere thought of aliens sounded like something out of one of Cousin Alfred's games.

Cousin Rupert, Ludwig decided then and there, was missing a few screws.

**

* * *

Gilbert's Friends Are Not Fun:**

Ludwig looked up at the clock again. 1:20 AM. Gilbert _never_ left him home alone this late without at least having Vash or Roderich or Elizaveta or even that Antonio guy with him.

Today at the park, Gilbert had run into some of his 'friends' who said that they wanted to play with him for a bit. Gilbert had told him to go home and that everything would be alright, and everything _had_ to be alright, because Gilbert had said it would be and Gilbert never lied to him about these things and-

Ludwig shook his head and looked at the clock again. 1:21 AM. Maybe he should call Roderich…

Just then the front door burst open, revealing a very bloody Gilbert clutching his shoulder.

"Bruder!" Ludwig rushed forward, "What…are you…what-"

"L-ludwig, it's late…why aren't you in bed?" he asked as he shuffled inside, wincing as he made his way to the couch.

"I-I was waiting for you…was worried…"

"You don't need to worry about me…" he ruffled his brother's hair, "nothing bad's gonna happened t'me. M'too awesome."

"Then what do you call this?! You're bleeding on the couch Bruder!"

"Sorry 'bout that…" he yawned and closed his eyes.

"Bruder! D-don't fall asleep…I think that's bad! Y-you can't…"

"S'fine…M'okay…you have school t'morrow."

Ludwig bit his lower lip. He was no doctor and didn't have even the slightest idea where to even begin treating his brother's wounds.

He quickly snatched his brother's cell and dialed the fist number that came to mind.

"_Gilbert, do you have any idea how inappropriate calls at this hour are?!_" Roderich's annoyed voice said at the other end.

"R-roderich…"

"_Ludwig?_" His tone softened immediately, "_What's wrong? What happened?_"

"B-bruder…he's hurt and bleeding and…I-I don't-"

"_Where are you?_" He heard a door shut and some shuffling on the other end.

"H-home…"

"_I'll be right over. Keep Gilbert awake until I get there. Can you do that?_"

He nodded before realizing Roderich couldn't see him. "Y-yes."

"_I'll see you soon._" The line was disconnected and it was just him and his bleeding brother.

"Gilbert…" he climbed up on the couch next to him. As if on reflex, Gilbert wrapped an arm around his little brother, "Please don't die…"

**

* * *

Ludwig, Tumi, and the Troll:**

_Dear Diary,  
My Second Cousins Gilbert and Ludwig came to visit us a few days ago. They're still here actually, as in they never left. I have to share my room with Ludwig and it's such a pain to have my personal privacy trounced on like that without my permission. Nikolas and Mathis are always doing that to me! It's so annoying! I hate my life! And another thing_-

"Tumi, what are you doing?" Ludwig shyly asked. Tumi slammed the book shut and glared at him.

"Don't sneak up on people like that! What do you want?"

"The Troll says he knows of this magical lake not too far from here and he was going to show it to me. Do you want to come with us?"

Tumi sighed and put a hand on the young child's shoulder. "Ludwig, there's no such thing as trolls."

Ludwig blinked. "He's a friend of your brother's…"

"All the more reason to doubt their existence. My brother says a lot of things."

"But-"

"Really, I know you are just a mere child and all, but one day you're going to grow up and realize that fairies and trolls just don't exist. There's no such thing as magic."

"But your brother-"

"Hopefully one day he'll grow up too. There's no need for you to retain such fantasies. Now if you excuse me," he walked off to another part of the house.

Ludwig turned to face the troll, who had started crying at the vicious attacks on his existence.

"It's okay," he said, giving him a hug, "I still believe you exist."

* * *

**Bruder = Brother, Vati = Dad.**

**Alfred's nicknames are based off of the Five Man Band trope, I'd give you a link, but um...just go to tvtropes dot com and search for Five Man Band if you don't know what I'm talking about.  
**


	7. The Obligatory Mother's Day Special

**Happy Mother's Day everyone! Banzai! Why are you reading fanfiction? Go call/talk to/spend time with your mothers right now! **

**Still here huh? Fine, but do that later.  
**

**Kiet = Thailand, Mei = Taiwan, Hong = Hong Kong, Katyusha = Ukraine, Mathis = Denmark, Tumi = Iceland, Nikolas = Norway, Jake = Australia, Angelique/Angelica = Seychelles, and Heidi = Liechtenstein.**

**Enjoy.**

**Edit: Well, for edits. That's what I get for posting at 4AM.  
**

* * *

"So class," Toris said as he addressed the numerous pairs of bright eyes looking at him, "since Mother's Day is this weekend, I thought it appropriate that we spend some time making Mother's Day cards for your mothers." Who must be saints for putting up with you all for so long, but he didn't add that.

Most of the class excitedly grabbed construction paper, markers, and glitter and got to work, while the table in the back was, well, the table in the back.

That's right; Ludwig, Feliciano, Yong Soo, Alfred, and Ivan didn't have mothers. God he must be the worst teacher ever for forgetting! Now they're all depressed and sad and awkward and it's his entire fault! Why else would Ludwig be looking forlornly out the window and Feliciano hide his shame by eating pasta after snack time while Yong Soo, Alfred, and Ivan worked on the assignment. Wait what?

"Mr. Lorinaitis! Mr. Lorinaitis!" Alfred shouted suddenly as Toris approached their table to see what was going on, "Mr. Lorinaitis, since my mother is a no good crack whore who's probably dead in a ditch somewhere anyway, can I make a card for my Dad instead?"

"That's right, you don't have a mom do you Alfred?" a boy at another table smirked, "You've just got your two freaky dads and a bunch of weird siblings."

"Pshaw, you're just jealous that your mom's been trying to get into my Papa's pants since forever 'cause your dad can't satisfy like mine can."

"Alfred! What have I told you about repeating things your parents say when you have no idea what they mean?"

"I'm sorry thatyoucaughtme Mr. Lorinaitis."

"Billy, just because your parents are going through a rough patch in their relationship is no reason to take it out on Alfred."

"Sorry…"

"Anyway, can I Mr. Lorinaitis?"

"Yes Alfred, you can make a card for your Dad instead."

"Look, look, Mr. Lorinaitis!" Ivan handed him a heart-shaped card, "I made a card for you~"

"That's…wonderful Ivan, but I'm not your mother…"

"Oh, but you're close enough yes? You're a part of my family yes?"

"Not…quite," he vaguely wondered what Feliks was up to today, "You may not have a mother in the traditional sense, Ivan, but you do have a prominent female influence in your life, right?"

"…That's why I gave you a card Mr. Lorinaitis."

"I'm a guy Ivan…"

"Oh…should I make one for Yao then?"

"Hey! Yao's my big brother!" Yong Soo shouted from across the table, "I get to make him a card!"

"Yong Soo, you're brother is a guy as well…"

"So is Alfred's dad, but you let him make a card for him, besides its cool, see? I invented Mother's Day in the first place you know."

"That's an…interesting drawing you made there…well I suppose it's alright, your brother probably is the most prominent feminine influence in your life anyway…"

"So I can make one for Yao too yes?"

"You can't Ivan, Yong Soo's right; Yao isn't your brother. Your sister would be the biggest influence in your life wouldn't she?"

"But it's called Mother's Day, not Sister's Day."

"Do you know what a mother is Ivan?"

"The lady who gave birth to you."

"Yes, that can be part of it, but being a mother is much more than that. It's about watching over and taking care of someone because you love them and want to make sure they grow up big and strong."

"So then-"

"I'm your teacher; I can't be your mother."

"So, I should write a card for my sister? Will she mind?"

"I think she'll be happy that you appreciate her." Ivan smiled and got to work.

"Ve, Mr. Lorinaitis," Feliciano said, unusually soft, "my mom is, um…"

That's right, Feliciano's mother died some time ago under mysterious circumstances. He was told by some of the older staff members who had had Lovino to "just not question the Vargas Family. Ever," not that he went prying into his student's backgrounds or anything…

"Well Feli," Toris said as he knelt down to his eye level, "you can make her a card anyway, can't you?"

"But…"

"She's watching over you in heaven right? I'm sure she'll see it and know you still love her."

"Ve, really?" Toris nodded, causing the young Italian to smile as he set out to create probably the most elaborate Mother's Day card ever.

"Ludwig," Toris walked over to the last boy at the table, who hadn't looked away from the window, "What's wrong?"

"I don't have a mother. She's like Alfred's a suppose; I'm not even sure about that though, just that she'd not around, and no one has stepped up to take her place like Arthur did."

"That's not true Ludwig. You have plenty of people that care about you."

"Vati, when he's home, but there's Father's Day for that. Gilbert is my brother and he's not motherly like Yao is."

"You have cousins that live with you too don't you?"

"They don't live with me. They're just over a lot."

"That counts. They've had a hand in raising you too haven't they? I'm sure one of them could be motherly enough to act as your mother…"  
Ludwig blinked before grabbing some paper and joining his classmates.

Toris smiled and walked around to help out the rest of the students when they called him over. It may have been stressful at times, but sometimes this job was rewarding.

* * *

Kiet opened the door and peeked inside before quietly shutting it and turning to face his siblings.

"Ana, is everybody ready?"

They smiled and nodded at him. Kiku was holding the tray of food they had all prepared together, Mei clutched the flowers she had picked out of her garden, Hong had a present of some sort that he had made himself, and Yong Soo held out a card, also handmade.

Kiet smirked before quietly opening the door and ushering them all in to surround Yao's bed. He nodded at Hong, who understood the signal and set off a small firecracker.

"Wuzzat, aru?" Yao shouted as he sprung awake, "Are we under attack?"

"Happy Mother's Day Yao!" They all shouted as Yong Soo, Hong, and Mei scrambled on the bed to shower him with hugs and kisses as per tradition. Kiet laughed joyfully as Kiku calmly smiled and kept the others from overturning the tray.

"I-is it that time of year already aru?"

"Yup! Yao, look at this, look at this!" Yong Soo weaseled his way into his brother's lap and held out the card. "I made you a card!"

The man smiled and took it, patting his little brother's hair as he did so. "Thank you, aru. I can see you put a lot of work into it."

"Yup! Mine was totally better than Ivan's, but Feliciano's was still better than mine…but it's cool. I taught him everything he knows."

"You wish squirt!" Mei elbowed him out of the way and placed the flowers in Yao's lap.

"These are lovely Mei. I see your garden in growing splendidly, aru."

She beamed as Hong handed him his present, a dragon key chain. Yao thanked him and gave him a hug, which he half heartedly pushed away from, blushing a little.

With that out of the way, Kiku placed the tray in his brother's lap as he and Kiet settled on the bed as well, talking about everything they had planned to do today.

"It's great that you guys do all this for me," Yao said in between bites, "and I appreciate it, but why don't you ever do anything for Father's Day, aru?"

* * *

"S-sister…"

Katyusha looked up from her knitting to see her siblings looking up at her with wide eyes, hands behind their backs. "What did you do now?"  
Ivan nudged Natalia with his shoulder. The young girl stepped forward and held out a handmade card.

"For me?" Katyusha asked. Natalia nodded as Ivan stepped forward and handed her a card as well.

"It's Mother's Day you know…" Ivan explained.

"That's sweet, but I'm not-"

"But, but," Natalia interjected, "you're always taking care of us and watching over us and stuff. Like a mother would."

"Yeah," Ivan agreed, "since General's gone most of the time and we don't have a mother…and Mr. Lorinaitis said that that was good enough! S-so…"

She knelt down to their level and wrapped them both in a giant hug. "I understand. I'll be your mother for today. Thank you two so much."

"Happy Mother's Day sister," they both said into her shoulders. She just laughed and hugged them tighter.

* * *

"Just do it Peter," Mathis whispered.

"Yeah, go for it," Tumi agreed.

"If you're going to do it, you'd better do it soon anyway," Nikolas added.

Berwald grunted, Hanatamago barked.

Peter inhaled deeply before exhaling and walking into the kitchen, stopping right behind where Tino was cooking and tugging on his apron to get the man's attention.

"Oh, Peter," he exclaimed, "breakfast will be ready shortly, what is it?"

The boy thrust a card into his hands and promptly looked away, shuffling his feet. "I know you aren't my real mother, but…"

Tino blushed and glanced at the doorway in time to see four heads swiftly retract behind the wall and sighed.

"Peter, I'm not…" he looked down at the face of the boy he adopted, that he took in and started raising on Berwald's insistence he'd make a great mother, despite the fact he was actually a guy, "used to these kind of gestures, but I'm happy you did so. Thank you so much." He leaned down and kissed the delighted boy on the head. Peter beamed and ran out of the kitchen again to receive a high five from Mathis.

"Oh Berwald…" he called in a singsong voice that made everyone else in the other room bolt out of the house. Berwald slunk into the kitchen to face his smiling wife. "Did you put him up to that?"

"Thought it was a sweet gesture," he shrugged and walked over to where Tino was standing to embrace him and plant a kiss on his forehead. "Always knew ya'd make a good mother." Tino blushed but leaned into his touch, muttering something about being a guy.

Berwald just kissed him again.

* * *

"Hey Fratello…"

Lovino sighed and looked up from his pasta at his little brother sitting across the table, uncharacteristically not eating his pasta, instead finger some stupid card he made for Mother's Day.

"What?"

"You remember Madre right?" yes, Feliciano was still only a baby when their parents died, but Lovino still had a few memories left of them, and grunted to tell him so, "What was she like? All I really remember was that she was warm and she smelled nice."

"I…don't really remember all that much…" A dark room, the smell of blood, gunshots, his mother hugging him tightly before Grandpa shoved them both in the closet.

"Please Lovino! Grandpa won't tell me much…you at least remember what she looked like right?" Feliciano's eyes, Grandpa's hair, only much longer and in better condition and with that ever-present curl that seemed to curse their family, full red lips, always sad, always crying, at least when Lovino was around. She smiled around Feliciano, because of Feliciano. Lovino looked more like his father anyway.

"She was beautiful, I guess," he admitted, "…you have her eyes I think."

"Ve, really? Was she nice and kind and sweet and gentle?" A white room, their mother sitting in a rocking chair, smiling sweetly and singing soft lullabies to Feliciano, laughing when he made a noise, his father steering him away from the doorway, telling him it's rude to eavesdrop, but he wants to hear his mother sing sometimes too…

"Yeah, I guess…"

"Ve~ what else do you remember Fratello?"

He remembers the car 'accident.' Blood, crying, screaming, his father trying to get him out, his mother shouting, screaming for _Feliciano_, making sure he was okay, but he wasn't there was he? He was safe at home, you brought _Lovino _with you remember? Gunshots, he remembered the gunshots, and the man with the wide eyes and the bad breath that had the gun, who snatched him out of the wreck of the car, and Grandpa who got him away as the cars burned in the distance, and all he could think was _why can't she love me too?_

"She…loved you. A lot. I'm sure…if she was still around, she'd just love you all the more."

"Really? Do you mean that?" Lovino nodded. His brother beamed at him and started eating his pasta with earnest. "Ve, I'm glad. Thank you for telling me."

Lovino just grunted and resumed eating. He didn't need to know the rest after all, it wasn't important.

* * *

Arthur sipped his tea as he flipped through the morning paper, pausing when he thought he heard footsteps and giggles coming from somewhere behind him. After looking around and not finding anything out of the ordinary, he went bag to reading the paper and drinking his tea. All of a sudden he heard Alfred shout "Now!" and he was bombarded with children, but they were his children, so it was okay. Matthew and Angelique were in his lap, Jake was on his head, and Alfred had climbed on top of the table so they were face to face.

"What's all this about then?" he asked calmly as he continued sipping his tea. All four of them giggled.

"Happy Mother's Day!" they shouted as they produced various handmade cards and handpicked flowers from various pockets.

"That's sweet, but wouldn't today be more appropriate for your Papa…"

"Don't be silly," Alfred laughed, "you're more like our mom Dad."

He heard Francis, that bastard, chuckle as he cooked breakfast. Arthur put his cup on the table away from Alfred and placed Jake next to his brother before smiling at his kids. "So I'm the 'mother' huh?"

"You bet!" Jake agreed, "Your always cleaning and trying to cook but failing and sewing and gardening and worrying 'bout us and all that stuff."

"Yes, but your Papa is _French_, spends hours on his hair, and always uses up all the hot water in the morning. That must count for something."

"They've already made up their minds, mon cher," Francis smirked, "we go through this every year and you're still the 'mother.'"

"Well, everyone knows the father is just a puppet figurehead anyway and that the mother has all the real power in any given household. Isn't that right kids?"

"Yup!" they chorused together, causing Francis to splutter a bit and shoot a glare at Arthur, who just smirked.

"Now, what did you get me?"

"We found flowers!" Angelique said as she and Matt handed him some roses, which he was pretty sure were from his garden in the first place, but he'd let it slide today.

"Jake and me made cards!" Alfred said, bringing out said cards from inside his pocket somewhere.

"Jake and _I _made cards," Arthur corrected.

"Nu-uh! It was Jake and me! Why would you make your own card Dad?"

"Hong also sent something over!" Jake pulled out a homemade teacup keychain from a pocket, "He sent some fireworks too!" Four pairs of eyes looked eagerly up at Arthur.

"Alright, go get them ready, but don't even think of setting them off until I'm out there, understand?"

They nodded, cheered, and ran off, leaving the place in an organized mess.

"I still don't see why you're not the 'mother,'" the Briton commented as he finished off his tea and stood up, "you're clearly more feminine then me."

"Says the man who still has a stuffed unicorn in his closet."

"Th-that's for Angelica! When she's older and can appreciate such things!"

"She's seven, mon cher, that excuse died a while ago."

"I-it's an antique…she'll get it when she'd ten…"

"I don't know why you complain about it so much, about the mother thing. You obviously love it."

"Typical. You understand nothing about good Mother's Day traditions."

* * *

Ludwig peeked around the corner before blushing and retreating, running into Gilbert's leg in the attempt.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked.

"N-nowhere…outside, to play…with Heidi…"

"Heidi and Vash are out to brunch, you know. Why are you hanging around Roderich's house anyway?"

"N-no reason…why are you hanging around Roderich's house?"

"N-no reason…"

They both blushed and shuffled around awkwardly for a bit before Ludwig finally spoke again.

"We, um, had to make Mother's Day cards in class, and uh, I made one for Elizaveta because, um…"

"Is that all? What's the problem then? Did she scare you away with her ugliness?"

"No, it's just…she's not really my mother you know…"

"Oh, I see," he sat down with his back against the wall. "You've never met our real mother, but trust me, it's for the better." Ludwig said nothing but sat down next to his brother.

"She was…interesting. Always liked to move around and could never stay in one place…always thought you and I were burdens. Then one day she just left."

"There are kids in class," the young blonde started, "who say that if you don't have a mother you'll turn out evil and stupid."

"Those kids are assholes, Luddy. Don't listen to them," Gilbert sighed, "besides, Liz is like your mother, she sure frets over you like one, and to be perfectly honest, you're lucky to have her. Trust me kid, you can do much worse as far as parental figures go."

Ludwig turned the card over in his hands a few times before standing up. "You're…a good parent figure too, bruder." He ran off, but not before Gilbert caught the pink creeping into his face and smiled.

"What are you doing here?" Roderich said as he stared down at his cousin.

"Ludwig's proposing to your wife. I figured I'd give him moral support."

"You're such a good brother, supporting incest like that."

"She ain't blood related so it's all good," he smirked, "besides, you're opinion on that matter doesn't count for shit, Mr. Only Child."

"Is it Mother's Day already?" Roderich finally concluded.

"You really need to buy a calendar Specs, seriously."

He kicked Gilbert and peeked into the room to see Ludwig sitting in Elizaveta's lap, watching her stitch up one of his old shirts while she smiled and told him something. She really is a great mother…perhaps they need some children of their own now?

Roderich shook his head and offered Gilbert a hand up. "Come on, I'll buy you lunch or something."

The albino smirked and took the proffered hand, "Drinks included right?"

"Only the first one, your own your own after that."

"I'll just borrow money from Vash the next time we see him."

"You still haven't paid him back for last time. You're going to end up with a bullet in your head one of these days."

"He wouldn't do that. Ludwig would hate him if he did."

Roderich sighed and shook his head. "You know, you could just unplug your house phone instead of coming over here if you really didn't want to talk to her."

"Yeah, but…" Gilbert blushed and scratched the back of his head, "she is our mother…I can at least offer her the courtesy of the answering machine. Besides, now I've got a free meal from you!"

"Remember, I'm only paying for the first drink."

"That's what she said!" he laughed before bolting out the door to Roderich's car.

"That didn't even make sense…" Roderich muttered before taking one last look at Ludwig and his wife, smiling, and following his cousin.


	8. Building a Family, FrUK Style Part I

**This ended up being 2.5 parts. What do I mean by that? You'll find out in three days. ;)**

**Enjoy.**

**Anon Reviews:**

**Anna: **Thank you! Probably, but at least his brother loves him...I think. It's the hair...confuses everyone. :P**  
**

**

* * *

I. The Fateful Meeting**

Arthur hated hanging out with Gilbert. In his opinion, 9 year olds should be perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, thank you very much, and there was absolutely no reason for their older cousins to have to watch over them. Of course, the rest of the family had decided that Gilbert would probably burn the whole place down or something if left unattended, and everyone else at the family reunion was just so busy _not_ attending to him that Arthur got stuck with the job.

He didn't seem the type, but as it turned out, Gilbert was a clinger. He would usually just cling to either Roderich or Vash since they live next to each other and are already familiar, but Roderich had left early to go to a piano recital and Vash and his father opted not to show up (apparently this facility didn't allow guns). As it was, it was just Arthur and Gilbert with an entire country club to explore.

"C'mon Arthur, you're no fun," Gilbert complained, tugging on his older cousin's hand as he dragged him through the hall.

"Where are you taking us?"

"I told you: two of my friends said they were having a family reunion here too so we're going to find them."

"Why would I want to hang out with any of your moronic friends?"

"My friends are awesome! Almost as awesome as me, but not quite."

"Didn't the adults say that we weren't allowed in this part of the club?" Allegedly a well known mob boss was having a meeting over here. The adults thought it best if no one crossed them for obvious reasons.

"This is the only part we haven't checked yet, so they've got to be here." Gilbert stopped and opened a door at random revealing a party in full swing.

"Hm? Kids?" A tall brown haired man with various curls sticking out asked them as he leaned over, completely wasted, "Do I know you?"

"I'm Antonio and Francis's awesome friend Gilbert. This loser is my cousin."

"Gilbert? Oh yeah, I've seen you once or twice I think. Antonio and Francis are probably on the golf course somewhere, here," he tossed the 9 year old a set of keys, "use one of the carts and go after them, 'kay?"

"If you insist Mr. Vargas…" Gilbert grinned and took off running towards the nearest exit, Arthur shouting at him as he chased him down.

Gilbert wasn't a very good driver, that much was obvious from the get go. Eventually his poor golf-cart-driving-skills had them crashing into someone else whose golf-cart-driving-skills where just as bad if not worse. Due to the lack of seat belts in said golf carts, all four passengers went flying.

"Oh hey, you're cute," Arthur heard a voice somewhere above him say. He quickly opened his eyes to see an older blonde boy on top of him, undressing him with his eyes. "Eyebrows could use some work I suppose, but overall not bad…" a stray hand found its way under Arthur's shirt.

"What the…GET THE HELL OFF ME YOU BLOODY PERVERT!" He pushed and kicked at slapped until he was free.

"_Mon dieu, _you pack quite a punch," great, he was molested by a _French_ pervert, "but resisting just makes me want you more, _mon cher_."

"Francis!" Another boy, this one with curly brown hair and green eyes, tackle hugged him from behind, "Look, we found Gilbert!"

"More like you hit me!" Gilbert complained, "I was doing awesome and you just come out of nowhere and hit me!"

"Can it wait, Antonio, I just found a new friend to play with."

"Oh really?" Antonio looked at Arthur with new interest. "Hm…what's with the eyebrows?"

"I beg your pardon?!"

"That's my cousin, Arthur. He has to watch me."

"Where are our manners?" Francis stood up, knocking Antonio off, and grabbed Arthur's hand, simultaneously pulling him up and kissing it. "_Voulez vous coucher avec moi ce soir?_"

He got a slap to the face, a knee to the groin, and a punch to the stomach for that. Not bad for a scrawny English kid.

**

* * *

II. Papa's Falling Into Love**

Francis Bonnefoy always knew he would find love at first sight. He was French, so he knew a thing or two about the subject.

When he first laid eyes on Arthur Kirkland, there was definitely lust at first sight, but that happened every five seconds, so really, no big deal. There was something else too though: annoyance. For some reason he just couldn't stand the other boy's face.

He never saw Arthur outside of any of Gilbert's family events, but every time they did cross paths it was always the same routine. Francis would flirt with the English kid just to watch him squirm, and would continue until he finally snapped and started either throwing things at him or physically beating him up. Francis would then run away for a bit, flirt with some of the other lovely people around, and repeat as soon as Arthur cooled his head. He, Antonio, and Gilbert had made sort of a game out of it.

Francis showed up to Gilbert's 11th Birthday Party. Gilbert didn't seem to notice, so he just snuck on in and found Antonio talking to some girls by the punch bowl. He seemed too preoccupied to notice though, so Francis opted to search for Arthur instead and have some fun.

He found him by the punch bowl being hit on by some local slut that Francis knew quite well, so he was willing to sit back and watch Arthur squirm without putting forth any effort. What could be more fun than that?

After a few minutes though, Francis started getting uncomfortable watching. Something about the scene was just…wrong, and the blonde felt the need to stop it.

"_Bonjour, mon ami_," he proclaimed as he walked up and wrapped an arm around Arthur. "Did you miss me?"

"Almost as much as I miss having a root canal. What do you want frog?"

"What's so suspicious about me greeting an old friend?"

"We're not old friends!"

"Of course not, we're a bit more then friends by now right?" He pulled Arthur into a hug and started rubbing his cheek against his head. "Ah, and what beautiful, passionate, sounds we make together…"

The girl just stared. "…he's only 14…"

"Ah, _mon cheri_, love waits for no man!" At this point Arthur was kicking and scratching and biting at any part of Francis he could get to. Francis didn't seem to notice.

"Oh, I get it. Sorry Francis, I didn't know he was taken." She winked and went to find someone else to flirt with.

"What the hell you bloody pervert frog?!?! Why are you telling people we're together!?!"

"I know her. She's…rather persistent. You're still a virgin right?" That got him a punch in the stomach.

"Th-that has nothing to do with anything! What are you the defender of my virginity?!"

"No, I'm sure your virginity can stay intact quite well without me. Of course if you ever _want _to-"

"You're just as bad as her! Just traded off one for another…"

"You know the more you resist the more desirable you become."

"…So if I gave in you would leave me the hell alone?"

"Of course, but we both know that's never going to-"

"F-Francis…" Arthur suddenly blushed and looked at his feet, shuffling about, "I-I don't quite know how to tell you this, but…I-I think I might…love you…"

Francis stopped and stared at the English boy, new emotions he couldn't quite place suddenly popping up all over the place. "Really?"

"I-I…fuck, I can't do it. It actually causes me physical distress to even pretend to like you. No. I hate you. Please leave me alone."

The Frenchman shook his head and pulled Arthur into a tight hug. "Oh, but you made _grande frère _so happy when you said that!!" He said it in a mocking tone, but really, it wasn't a lie.

"G-get off me, leave me alone!" Arthur kneed him in the stomach and made a run for it.

"Running only makes my love for you burn hotter!!"

After that, Francis realized most of the things he said to Arthur to annoy him became the truth too.

**

* * *

III. Dad's Falling Into Love**

Arthur Kirkland was a good son. He got up early, brought home all As from school, ate all his vegetables, and did everything his parents told him to, because Arthur was _good_.

Francis was everything Arthur was not, and he thanked whatever divine beings out there that he only saw him every other family outing. That is, until Francis Bonnefoy transferred to his school.

Now instead of taking lunch alone in the library studying as he liked to do, Arthur found himself spending it running away from Francis, whose new favorite game seemed to be to find him wherever he was and annoy him endlessly. Arthur had now started fighting back on school grounds, which lead to trips to the principal's office and even a detention when their fighting got particularly violent. His parents weren't too happy about that, because Arthur was a _good_ kid and didn't get into fights. Francis just made him bad.

Detention wasn't something Arthur was used to, naturally, so when he walked into the room after school he didn't expect it to be full of all of those big students who routinely tried to beat him up. Instinctively he sat down in the empty seat as far away from them as he could get. Unfortunately that put him right next to Francis.

"Who brings homework to detention?" he smirked, "you sure are a strange one, _non_?"

"It's better than having to look at your scruffy face for two hours."

"Oh Arthur, you're always thinking such dirty thoughts…"

"Only you could interpret _that_ to mean something perverted!"

"Hey You In The Back, quiet down!" the teacher shouted. Arthur shut up and turned to face forward while Francis chuckled. "Now look, I don't have time to waste with You Delinquents, so I'm just going to lock y'all in here for the rest of the time while I go catch a movie or something. You With The Eye Patch is in charge while I'm gone. You With The Mohawk and You With The Rose better behave yourselves or else." With that he left, and Arthur heard the door's lock click shut.

A kid with an eye patch sat down at the teacher's desk and put his feet up as if he owned the place while a kid with a mohawk on the other side of the room sulked and turned to face the chalkboard while Francis sniffed his rose again.

"Really, you grope a few people and all of a sudden the world's against you."

"Tch, you would be the kind of guy to wind up in detention all the time."

"And you would be the kind to not. Arthur, _mon cher_, you never live."

"I always live. What else would I be doing?"

"_Non_, you're always alive, but you never live."

"I live plenty, thank you very much. I don't need your concern about my well being!"

"If you insist…"

One of the few girls in the room happened to be a very good lock-pick and had the door open in about five minutes.

"Finally," Francis complained, "these conditions are too poor. I should write a letter of complaint to the establishment."

"You would," Arthur commented, not moving towards the open door to freedom.

"Aren't you coming _mon cher_?"

"I received a punishment for my actions and I intend to sit through that punishment until the end, although with you gone it'll be more of a pleasure cruise then anything."

Francis shrugged, "Suit yourself," then left the classroom without a care in the world.

Arthur was too busy not-caring to notice that the other, bigger, muscular boys in the room had turned their attention to him.

"Ain't you that Kirkland kid? The one that thinks he's better then everybody else?"

"First of all, 'ain't' isn't proper English, stop raping the language. Second it's 'better than,' I think I'm better than everybody else, not better then."

"Yup, it's him."

Two of the largest kids grabbed him out of his seat and pinned him against a desk, hard.

"Bloody hell! What do you think your-"

"Quiet Kirkland," Eye Patch said. Most of the other kids had left already, leaving just Arthur and his tormentors, "Ya in my English class ain't ya? Even though ya a freshman? Always getting all them good grades and such? I find that annoying ya know."

"Well I don't bleeding care what you think you wanker, just let me go."

"Now now, that's not the way ya ask nicely ya know…" One of his bigger friends drove his fist straight into Arthur's spine. The blonde grit his teeth and tried not to let the pain show.

"What are you trying to accomplish by pinning me here and kicking my arse anyway?"

"Accomplish? Nothing probably. It makes me feel a hell of a lot better though." At his signal the thug hit him again, this time into his kidney. He raised his fist for another shot-

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, _mon ami_,"

As if Arthur's life couldn't get any worse, Francis had decided to come back, for no other reason than to prove that Murphy's Law was still function properly.

"Whaddya want Francis? Can't ya see I'm a lil' busy here?"

"I can't say I appreciate you beating up on him like that." He twirled the rose in his hands, staring at it intently.

"Well I don't give a rat's ass what ya appreciate or not there Frenchy."

"I would, if I were you…"

"Wuzzat?"

"I'm just saying that if you were to continue with this little charade of power you have going, you should be well prepared to deal with the consequences."

"What kinda consequences are ya talking 'bout?"

"Your sister is very lovely. She's a freshman is she not?"

"What of it?" Eye Patch practically shouted, disturbed by the sudden change in conversation.

"I hear Antonio's taken an interest in her…"

"What?! That bastard better keep his paws off my sister or else-"

"Or else what? Antonio is a dear friend of mine; I know him quite well. Tactics such as this will have no use on him…he's a complete idiot when he's in love. To be fair, he's a complete idiot all the time, but I suppose that just means he's always in love…too bad it's never with the same girl. He leaves a path of heartbreak wherever he goes. It's a shame that most of them opt for suicide. I would like a crack at them too sometimes…"

"If he even so much as-"

"Calm yourself, _mon ami_, I can help you. Antonio takes my advice very seriously. One word from me, and he won't go anywhere near your sister. Of course…"

"Yeah yeah, I know the drill. Whaddya want?"

"For starters you can let Arthur go."

He snapped his fingers. The thugs released Arthur and stepped away.

"Anything else?"

Francis made a show of thinking about it. "Not right now. I'll let you know if I need anything."

"But-" he thought better of it, nodded, and left the classroom with the others.

Arthur moved his wrists to get circulation flowing through them again. "I didn't know being around you had such a high suicide risk," he said, more to fill the silence then anything, "perhaps I should consider myself lucky I've survived this long."

"Perhaps," Francis still hadn't moved from the doorway and was still twirling his rose, "or maybe I just made it up."

"What, the whole thing?"

"It's entirely possible that Antonio doesn't care what I think or take my advice. It's also possible that his sister is a skanky, disease ridden, whale that no man could possibly love."

Arthur stopped and stared. "He's going to be pissed when he finds out."

"Maybe so," the other boy shrugged, "but you're assuming he's going to find out." He looked up and met Arthur's green eyes, who found himself unable to hold the gaze and looked away.

"What are you doing right now?" Francis asked.

"Why?"

He shrugged. "I was going to met Antonio and Gilbert in town later. I figured if you ever wanted to leave your precious books for a moment or two to actually live the moment, you could come too."

Arthur blushed and looked at his feet. Eventually he tossed his books into his bag and walked out the door.

"D-don't misinterpret this," he said, "I'm coming with you because I was planning on going there anyway, not because you asked me."

"Whatever you say _mon cher_," he walked next to him and secretly placed his hand on the others ass.

Arthur let him keep it there for a bit before violently kicking it away.

**

* * *

IV. First Kiss**

Despite all the fairy tales he'd heard as a small child, Arthur did not go around habitually kissing frogs. So when he found himself accidentally kissing one, it's only natural that his first instinct was to punch said frog in the face and make a run for the nearest closet and lock the door. Well maybe second instinct; for some reason his first was to kiss back, but that was definitely because of confusion caused by suddenly falling not because of any affection he most certainly did not have for said frog.

It was all Gilbert's fault anyway.

Gilbert was staying at his house while his father was out of town. Since Arthur's parents were out for the night, his cousin though it would be a brilliant idea to have his stupid friends over. Bad things always happened to him whenever those three were together and tonight was no exception.

Arthur didn't know why he was even in the same room as them, he had homework to do, and he had absolutely no idea why he opted to share the same couch with Francis of all people, it's not like he actually liked him or anything like that. As usually they started fighting, which turned physical fast and had them wrestling on the couch space.

"Sheesh, get a room you two," Gilbert had cackled (he actually cackled, that should've been his first sign!), "Arthur I don't think your folks will appreciate you making out with perverts while they're away."

His commentary caused Arthur to blush and stumbling, which made him tumble to the floor, which made Francis tumble with him and somehow land on top of him, which somehow made their lips touch, which for some reason neither felt the need to correct as soon as it happened.

Arthur came to his senses as soon as Antonio and Gilbert started with the catcalls and immediately punched his assailant in the face, ran to the nearest closet, and locked the door, where he currently was now.

It only took Francis about five minutes to hunt him down and cause him further grief. "_Mon cher,_ you can come out of the closet now."

"Fuck you!"

"Well if you _really_ want to I won't object…" Arthur wished it were possible to punch people through solid wood doors without causing property damage.

"Why are you being so difficult?" Francis continued, "It's not like that was your first kiss or anything…"

"N-no! Of course not!" It was, but that frog had no business knowing that.

"That was your first kiss? Interesting." Damnit.

"Sh-shut up!" Arthur buried his face into his knees as he leaned against the door, "Go away!"

"_Mon cher_, you misunderstand," he heard him sit down and lean against the door as well, "if I had known that was your first kiss I would have made it special."

"Probably try to make it in a secluded area so you can try to get a few more firsts out of me," Arthur muttered.

"What kind of man do you take me for? I wouldn't try such things on you for your first time."

"Pft, yeah right. You've done nothing but grope me ever since we met!"

"That's just because you're cute when you're flustered," Arthur's face went beat red and he was grateful that the other couldn't see him, "For something as serious as your first kiss…well, I would have done things a little differently."

"Well go on," he was curious despite himself, "if you could have planned it what would you have done differently?"

"For starters, Gilbert and Antonio wouldn't have been around," sounding good so far, "and your parent's living room floor would not be my ideal location. Probably somewhere outside, you seem like a nature person, maybe a lake or a forest somewhere. And I would have taken you out to dinner somewhere before hand, someplace French where you would have complained, which would have been adorable, but the food would have been excellent. I would have taken you out for a walk after dinner and let you rant about anything and everything, and at the end said something like your eyes are like sparkling emeralds. You would have called me some British curse and try to hit me, but I would sneak in there before you actually did and kissed you."

That actually didn't sound that bad, and Francis sounded genuinely sincere while describing it. "I think you read too many romance novels."

He heard him chuckle. "Everyone needs a little romance in their life, _mon cher_."

"Why do you keep calling me that?" Arthur asked all of a sudden.

"Hm? It means 'my dear-'"

"I know what it means…why do you keep…never mind. You're just making fun of me is all."

"_Au contraire_, I am not making fun of you at all when I call you that."

"Excuse me while I don't believe you."

"Well maybe at first, but after a while…you're a very unique person, Arthur Kirkland."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means what it means." They sat in silence for a bit.

"You know…" Arthur said after a while, "Despite how I may behave most of the time…I may not exactly hate you sometimes."

"Same here…quite the opposite actually…"

"…what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means what it means."

"But that would you mean you lo…" he couldn't bring himself to say it.

"Yes, perhaps I do. But just because I love you…it doesn't mean I don't hate you, because I still do." Arthur heard him stand up and stretch. "I'll see you around, _mon cher_."

"W-wait!" Arthur stood up and opened the door, causing Francis to stop in his tracks. "You…you…" unfortunately he had no idea what to say, "You can't just tell a person you love them and walk away!"

Francis blinked, confused for all of two seconds, before he smirked, walked over to Arthur, and leaned forward to whisper in his ear, "Well then, I'll call you later. How's that?" He gave him a quick peck on the cheek and sauntered off downstairs to rejoin his friends.

Arthur blushed deeply and thought of so many good comebacks for him when he called him later…if he did call. There was no way to be sure with someone like Francis…not that Arthur actually cared if he did call or anything, because he didn't. He hated the frog; no matter how much he might have actually…not hated him so much.

Homework. Yes, he had homework. He should go do that now…

**

* * *

V. First Date**

It took about a month for Arthur to actually agree to go out with Francis. In Francis's defense, he didn't purposely try to make the date a disaster; it kind of just did that on its own.

True, he knew Arthur didn't like French food, so maybe taking him to a French restaurant wasn't the best of ideas, but how was he supposed to know that the chef and Arthur's family vehemently hated each other? And really, it's not his fault those eyebrows are so damn distinctive.

And before dinner, when they went to the fair, how was Francis supposed to know Arthur was afraid of heights ("not heights," Arthur insisted, "just rickety Ferris Wheels being held together by spit and prayers,")? It was rather cute when Arthur huddled up next to him when they stopped at the top, but that ended fairly quickly when the puking started.

But it didn't stop there, how was he supposed to know what flowers Arthur was allergic to? And how could he have possibly known that that dog hated British people? There's only so much Francis can control after all.

As such when Francis finally got Arthur home that night, he fully expected a slap on the face, which he got.

"That was possibly the worst date ever," Arthur had said. Francis couldn't help but agree.

"You better not fuck the next one up this royally or so help me God…" he never heard why God had to help Arthur because at that moment the door was shut in face, but he was to elated to care all that much.

He knew Arthur was a keeper.


	9. Building a Family, FrUK Style Part II

**And here's Part 2!**

**Enjoy.  
**

**

* * *

VI. Love and Marriage:**

Arthur had always known that he wasn't attracted to girls, and the fact that all of the women in his life had been manipulative bitches didn't help. Even so, he didn't fall for guys that easily either, and on the off chance he actually did, he preferred to bury his feelings in school work until they went away then actually try anything. He was a good boy after all, and good boys were supposed to fall in love good girls after they graduated college and got high paying jobs, married them, and started families of good children who repeated the process.

Francis ruined everything by making him fall in love with him, that bastard.

Naturally, when Arthur's parents found out, they weren't exactly thrilled. They blamed Gilbert for being a bad influence (Arthur did to, but for completely different reasons) and refused to let Arthur see Francis. And Arthur complied, because he was a good boy, even if he strayed away from that, even if it hurt to push Francis away and mean it (or at least pretend to). He slept at night knowing that Francis probably thought the whole thing as just another fling anyway (even if it had lasted over a year) and was already over him right now.

Except that, you know, he wasn't.

Francis hadn't expected to fall for Arthur as hard as he had. In fact he hadn't realized just how hard he fell until after Arthur had kicked him out of his life. At first he just blew it off as if it didn't really matter to him and started drinking to try and convince himself of that fact as well, and for the most part it worked. He saw other people and only thought about Arthur when he was sober, which was becoming less and less.

Antonio and Gilbert knew him too well to get fooled by such tricks, which is why they felt the need to kidnap him…it was for his own good, they swear. And if Gilbert got to pull some cool ninja moves he'd been working on and Antonio got to try out his new rope knotting skills in the process, well, that was just a bonus. They swear.

"Seriously, this isn't healthy, even for you," Antonio said as he finished tying Francis to the chair.

"I'm fine guys, really…"

"Of course, that's why you've been disappearing with a different girl every night for the past month or so," Gilbert rolled his eyes, "not to mention that you've also gone through enough wine in that time to keep the entire population of China drunk for a good year or so."

"I'm cool, really…sure what's-his-face calling it off like that was a bit sudden, but if he's moved on, then so have I."

"But Arthur hasn't moved on," Antonio said. Francis twitched at the mention of his name.

"Of course he has, or else he wouldn't have…well it's not like he was all that committed anyway…not that I care…"

"It's not like he wanted to call it off," Gilbert stated, shocking everyone in the room. "Aunt and Uncle found out and forced him. What you didn't know?"

"No," Antonio smiled, not that nice happy smiles that he usually did. This was one of those smiles that you would run from. "You know Gilbert, things like that would have been nice to know LAST MONTH WHEN THIS ALL STARTED!!!"

"Hey I didn't find out about it until this week! Somehow this is all my fault and Vati's been arguing with Aunt and Uncle lately. Apparently I'm not allowed within ten feet of their house anymore. Roderich is though, and he told me that Arthur's just been throwing himself into his schoolwork for the past month…not that it's doing him any good, because he's still failing everything…Aunt and Uncle are talking about sending him to a private school back in England."

"What's that supposed to accomplish?"

"I dunno," he shrugged, "apparently surrounding him by dudes is supposed to somehow make him straight."

"But still, Gilbert, all of this lovely information would have been great LAST MONTH!!"

"Stop shouting at my awesome self! I told you I didn't find any of this out until this week! Besides I don't hear Francis complaining…right Francis?"

The both turned to see that somewhere in their conversation Francis had escaped the ropes and made a run for it. A small fight broke out to decide whose fault it was (it was Gilbert's).

Nobody heard from Francis Bonnefoy for three days.

Meanwhile, Arthur Kirkland was getting ready to move back to England, or more accurately, be sent away to England, which was fine. It's not like there was anything here for him after all…perfectly fine…

A rapping on his window shook Arthur out of his train of thought. He walked over and opened the window to find Francis sitting in his tree.

"Bloody…what the…Francis…"

"_Bonsoir mon cher_. I see you're as articulate as always."

"B-bloody hell Francis!" He whispered harshly, "I-I told you I never wanted to see your frog-face again!"

"_Oui_, but you always say that to me. Why should I let that stop me now?"

"I mean it this time…go away. I-I never want to-"

"Gilbert," he interrupted, "told me. Everything." Arthur blushed and turned away. Francis attempted to stroke his cheek, but his hand was swatted away. "I missed you _mon cher_."

"I'm sure you did," he turned to face him again with a glare that may have caused a weaker man to combust on the spot, "Gallivanting around with any two-cent whore that crossed your path."

"Oh, I see you still kept tabs on me…"

"D-don't misunderstand! Roderich just mentioned some things in passing," (after he had asked), "I-It's not like I actually c-cared…or anything…"

"It still hurts," that caused Arthur to look him right in the eyes, "I know you don't mean it and you're just trying to make your parents happy…but it still hurts." He reached out to grab his check, and this time Arthur let him, "Yes, there were other girls, but it was always you. Will always be you."

"Francis…I…I'm going back to England tomorrow."

"I am aware," he lowered his hand from Arthur's face and grabbed his hand instead, "If you really want to, I won't stop you, but I was hoping that you would rather stay here."

Arthur lowered his gaze, hiding his eyes behind his fringe, and unconsciously tightened his grip on Francis's hand.

"There's nothing for me here," he stated in that monotone way that implied he'd been telling himself that for the better part of the last few days, but still didn't quite believe it.

"I'm here."

"For how long?" His eyes snapped back up intensely glaring again, "How long until you grow bored with me and leave me for someone new? I'm not going to bet my future on the off chance that you might…"

"Not? Feel the same way you do? If that's the only thing holding you back, then I'll gladly assure you-"

"Yes assure me, with your fancy words riddled with lies. Excuse me if I don't gamble everything on your word." He turned to go back into the room but was stopped when Francis pulled on his hand.

"Let me finish, please Arthur," he held his gaze as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring. It wasn't anything special (which considering Francis's love of doing thing extravagantly is nothing short of a miracle), just a simple gold band surrounding a green diamond.

"Arthur, will you marry me?"

Arthur gave himself about ten seconds for his brain to crash, reboot, analyze the situation, and then crash again.

"You're crazy…insane…I'm dreaming. Yes, that's right, there's no way you'd be here at me window asking me to marry you." Francis pinched him, hard.

"Ow! Bloody wanker, what the hell?!"

"Well, now you know you're not dreaming. So what's your answer?"

"I can't just…I'm only 16! I can't get married!"

"I'll take care of you, I promise! My parents left me with a lot of money, enough for the two of us to be set for a while."

"There's more to it than just money Francis!" Arthur snapped. "I can't just…there's a plan! I have a plan and you just…why do you always ruin it?!" He took his hand back only to grip the window sill as if his life depended on it. "There's a plan…no one has to get hurt…"

"You mean, your parents don't have to get hurt. They can continue living their perfect life with their perfect son. Which is fine, they're your family after all, but Arthur, is their happiness worth yours? In their life plan for you, will you really end up happy?"

Arthur blanched before slowly backed away from the window, shutting it in the process. Francis sighed and looked away. He had tried; if he couldn't change Arthur's mind, then there was nothing more he could do. He had said his piece and he had no regrets.

Suddenly the window burst open again. Francis looked up in time to see Arthur jump into the tree branch carrying a backpack. He slipped, but Francis caught him and steadied him before he fell.

"Arthur…"

"You said you have money right? Do you have a house yet? It better be as far away from here as possible because I don't think my parents will just let me live down the street from them."

"Y-yes…I have that all set up."

"Good…" he coughed awkwardly and blushed. "D-don't think that just because I'm running away with you, it means I don't hate you, because I still do."

Francis just laughed and pulled his fiancé into a kiss. "And I wouldn't have it any other way."

**

* * *

VII. Alfred and Matthew:**

For probably the first time in his life, Arthur was comfortable. Francis had set them up in a town far enough away that no one would ask any unneeded questions and Arthur was still able to attend his last semester of high school and graduate early. It took a while, but after a few months of filling out paperwork and court proceedings, Arthur was legally free from his parents. The only thing that could possibly ruin this for him would be if one of them somehow got pregnant, but that was just silly. Men couldn't get pregnant, everyone knew that.

There was no way he could have expected his life to change so dramatically by simply answering the knock at the door.

There on his doorstep was a young blonde woman with bright blue eyes caring a sleeping newborn in one arm and trying to stop a young blonde toddler from wandering off with another.

"Um…can I help you?" he asked, unsure what caused this visit.

She and the child looked up at him when he spoke.

"Damn he sure like 'em young," were the first words out of the woman's mouth.

"Excuse me?!"

"You're British too? I'm totally into that, but I didn't think Francis was."

"And who the bloody hell might you be?"

"Huh? Oh, I guess he hasn't mentioned that I might possibly be stopping by sometimes. Jeeze, talk about rude. You really should let your wife know these things."

"Husband. And that still doesn't explain who-"

"_Mon cher_, what's taking so…" Francis trailed off when he caught sight of who was at the door. "Vanessa! What are you doing here?"

"I said I would stop by you know!"

"You said maybe if you were in the area…two years ago…"

"Yeah, and you never told me you moved and got married! I had to find out from Antonio. Talk about rude."

"Well where are my manners? Arthur, this is an old 'friend' of mine, Vanessa Williams. Vanessa, this is my husband Arthur. I see you brought some little guests as well…"

"Huh? Oh yeah," she handed the baby to Francis, "that's Mattie and, um…where'd Al go?" Sometime during the conversation, the child slipped out of his mother's grasp and was currently wandering in the bushes.

"D'ya mind getting him for me Arty?" Vanessa asked. "Francis and I wanna catch up and all, you know how it is." She pushed her way into the house, grabbing the Frenchman and dragging him inside as well.

"Don't call me Arty!" Arthur shouted a little belated. Sighing he wandered over to the bushes where Al was currently exploring.

"Come along lad, I'm sure your mother is…um…well, just come along now," he said, holding out his hand. The child stared at him for a bit before running over and eagerly taking it."Yes, well…" Arthur was never very good with children. Younger children often found him dull and would naturally migrate to anyone else in the area, so the fact that this child warmed up to him so easily was unexpected, but not necessarily in a bad way. "Let's go inside now, come along."

As soon as they entered the house though, Alfred tugged away from Arthur and ran away.

"What…wait come back! Get down from there this instant!" After some fighting, scrambling, climbing, and general running, Arthur managed to get him into the kitchen, where Vanessa was chatting Francis's ear off while he gently rocked a peacefully sleeping Matthew.

"Oh good you found him," Vanessa remarked, "Al usually just wanders all over the place so I have trouble finding him sometimes."

"So what you just let him wander? He looks like he's barely a year old. That's not very good parenting!"

"He's like, 18 months or something…well he was born in July and what day is it? Anyway I don't think you have any right to lecture me about that. It's not like you have kids of your own Arty."

"It's _Arthur_! And everyone knows leaving a small child unattended is just-"

"Relax, _mon cher_. Your shouting will wake up the baby."

"Nah, Matty can sleep through a thunderstorm. I think he actually did at one point…anyway he's pretty calm, which is good 'cause that one," she specifically pointed at Alfred, "is a handful."

"I'd imagine so," Francis observed. Meanwhile, Alfred grew bored with their talking and had climbed on top of Arthur's shoulders to play with his eyebrows.

"He's quite the climber isn't he…" Arthur mumbled.

"I guess. I mean, I always find him on top of stuff."

Alfred was now leaning upside down staring into Arthur's eyes. Suddenly he grabbed at the man's nose and tweaked it, giggling like mad when Arthur made a distressed noise.

"He's taken a liking to you, somehow," Vanessa commented, "which is actually really good, because I need to ask you a favor Francis."

He sighed, expecting something like this from the beginning. "What?"

"I need to go out to Vegas for a little bit…to track down their father. I can't really take the kids to Vegas, so-"

"Absolutely not," Arthur stated, "We are not some nanny service for your convenience! Why don't you leave them with family or friends or-"

"There is no family. Just me," she smiled, "besides, Francis _is_ a friend, so it's cool right?"

"We are not prepared to take on two children out of the blue like this!"

"It'll be fine, they practically take care of themselves," she stood up and made her way to the front door. "I'll be back from Vegas in a few weeks 'kay? I'll get them from you then! See ya!" With that, Vanessa Williams walked out of their lives.

"…She's never going to come back for them, is she?" Arthur asked.

"No probably not," Francis agreed. "She's always doing stupid things like this…"

"I'm 16, you're 18, and we really only started living together six months ago. We can't raise two children right now."

"No, we can't."

"What are we going to do with them?"

Francis sighed. "I'll call around for orphanages I suppose…"

That took time though, time that was spent taking care of Alfred and Matthew, who despite their mother's insistence, did not practically raise themselves. Matthew, who was still a newborn, needed either breast milk or baby formula. Considering neither Arthur nor Francis was equipped to produce the former, the logical option was the latter, which was very expensive. Also it seemed he vanished half the time, as there were moments when both Francis and Arthur had no idea where the baby went, only to find he was sitting there the whole time. At least he was quiet most of the time, only really crying when he was hungry…which only seemed to be at three in the morning.

Alfred, as it turned out, was an extremely picky eater. He would only eat Arthur's food, which was weird because Arthur couldn't cook. At all. His food had none of the nutritional requirements for a child his age on top of the fact that it tasted horrible and he almost burned the house down several times while attempting to cook. Unlike his brother, he needed either Arthur or Francis constant attention, and would go about several ways to get it, his favorites being crying in the loudest, most obnoxious way available to him at the time and climbing on top of the tallest object in the room (which sometimes was Francis or Arthur) and attempting to jump off.

After two months of this, tired, beat, and exhausted, Arthur was more than happy to hand over the kids to some Christian orphanage in another town, and was set to do just that.

The nuns were taking them away so Arthur never had to see them or deal with them ever again, Matt unusually crying and screaming the whole time, when suddenly Alfred squirmed away to run over and attach himself to Arthur's leg.

"Dada!!" he screamed over and over again almost as loud as his brother, whose shrieks increased in volume after his brother's escape. Alfred cried and screamed and held on to his leg with a grip stronger than any normal child his age. "Dada!!"

Arthur gulped. That was Alfred's first word wasn't it? He knew right then that he was going to be stuck with these kids for the rest of his life.

"Um…Francis…"

"I'll call the adoption agency when we get back."

**

* * *

IIX. Jake:**

Francis's parents had left him enough money for him and a spouse to live comfortably for the rest of their lives. Add two kids to the equation however and, well, Arthur was more comfortable taking a few extra shifts every now and then at work. So when his boss offered a huge bonus for anyone willing to accompany a documentary crew to Australia for a month, Arthur wasted no time packing his bags, grabbing his passport, and promising Alfred he'd bring him back a koala.

Yes, he'd been left with doing the grunt work, and that was perfectly acceptable, after all it was what he signed up for, but that didn't mean they could just dump random children they found in the outback on him simply because they had the same eyebrows (purely by coincidence) and he may have had a child or two around the same age. Still, it was complete bollocks.

"Wat's dis?" the kid asked, pulling out one of Arthur's photos from his back.

"_That_ is a picture. Please don't go through my things. Haven't your parents taught you anything?"

"I'm only twee," he held up three fingers to prove his point.

"Yes, that's splendid Alfred-"

"Jake."

"Yes, Jake, that's splendid. Don't just-" but Jake had already gone back into Arthur's bag and pulled out another picture.

"Who's dat?" he asked, holding the picture out to Arthur.

"_That_ is my family."

"Where are dey?" he peaked around the chair Arthur was seated in as if they were simply hiding.

"They aren't here, they're back home."

"Oh," Jake sat down and stared at the picture some more.

"…Jake, what do you remember about your parents?" Arthur tried asking, again, "It could help us try to find them quicker."

"We were 'sploring," Jake answered, not taking his eyes off the picture, "Ma and Pa went away. I twied to find 'em…but…" instead of finishing he turned the picture back to Arthur and asked, "who's dat?"

"That's my son, Alfred," he carefully moved himself off the chair and onto the floor next to Jake. "He likes to play around outside and go exploring…a bit hard to handle at times since he's always moving, but he's such a sweet lad. A lot like you, in a way…you'd like him."

"Yeah…" Jake trailed off again, staring at the photo yet not, "who's dat?"

"That's my other son, Matthew. His brother's complete opposite in almost every way. Quiet, smart, generous, quiet. I'm sure you'd get along."

He nodded. "Is dis your wife?"

"Yes, that's Francis. He's a right tosser and perverted as all hell. Can't count on him for anything really, and he's probably the single most annoying human being on the face of the planet."

"But you luf him wight? Or else you wouldn't haf mawied him wight?"

"…Yes, I love him very much…just don't tell him that, or anyone else ever for that matter. It'll be our secret alright?"

Jake giggled. "'Kay."

Arthur spent the next few hours showing Jake the rest of the pictures he brought and telling him all the random stories that went along with them. Eventually they were interrupted by one of the team members that found Jake and were looking for his parents.

"We might have found your parents Jake!" she practically squealed. "Isn't it great? You'll be reunited with them as soon as we can confirm it!"

"Well, who the bloody hell are they and why did they just let their son wander around the outback by himself?" Arthur demanded.

"Chill dude. According to the data we managed to extract from Jake and the internet, we've concluded that Jake's parents are probably the famous extreme explorers Steve and Dana Jenkins. Rumors say that they had a son three years ago, although no one could ever actually confirm that, and they were taking this week off to hike through the outback. Jake here must have wandered away from their camp site. We're trying to reach them by satellite phone now to confirm our theory."

"Can't you just ask Jake?"

"He hasn't exactly been a goldmine of information you know. Couldn't even give us a clear description of what his parents looked like."

"Do you have a photo of them?" she nodded and handed one over. Arthur showed it to Jake. "Jake love, do you know who the people in this picture are?"

He stared at it for a long while before his eyes lit up in recognition. "Tom!"

"Tom?" Jake was pointing at a man in the background of the picture fiddling with some equipment.

"Tom Brady is their assistant," she explained, "he usually travels around with Steve and Dana, but since this was just for fun, he took the week off."

"Tom plays with me lots 'cause Ma and Pa are always busy…I don't tink he likes me vewy much…"

"So the man and woman in the photo are your parents then, Jake?"

"I…guess. Tom's with 'em."

"We just got a hold of the Jenkins!" Another member of the team shouted as he came in.

"Well what did they say? Were they missing a child?" The first girl asked.

"They didn't notice at first, but yeah, they lost their son. They asked if we could hold onto him for a bit until their done with their trip, since he'd been getting in the way because Tom wasn't there to watch over him."

"Wasn't there to…they're his bloody parents! It's their job to watch over him, not some underpaid assistance who doesn't give two licks!"

"Hey, if you want to tell them yourself Arthur-"

"Damn right I want to tell them myself, where's the bloody phone?"

Arthur spent the next hour and a half arguing with Steve and Dana Jenkins about parenting. They claimed that it was difficult traveling around and doing so many dangerous things with a kid in tow and it wasn't their fault Jake couldn't just stay still, and Arthur complained that they shouldn't put their work ahead of their child to the point where he can't even recognize them, especially if it put Jake in danger.

Somehow it ended with Steve shouting, "Well if you know so damn much, why don't you just raise him, mate!?"

To which Arthur replied, "Maybe I should! The boy could use an actual loving family!"

"If you think you can handle him, then go ahead! Congrats Captain Jerkface, you're now the proud father of an Aussie brat!" Arthur waited for the pending tone dial before slamming the phone down.

"Well, what now Captain Jerkface?" the girl said, "Now we have no idea where they are or how we're going to get Jake back."

"It's fine…I'll take him."

"You what!? You're not seriously just going to-"

"I said I'd raise him, so I'm going to raise him. And I'll do a much better job than those two could ever manage to accomplish."

"Arthur I think this is kidnapping…"

"No, it could work out…" the other guy said, "I'm pretty sure if you don't notice your child getting lost in the outback that qualifies as abandonment. I'll call the adoption and border people and see if we can get this to work."

"What about Jake? What if he doesn't want to leave Australia, did you ever think of that?"

"Jake," Arthur asked, "would you like to come live with me and my family in America?"

"Can I really?!"

"You don't mind if you leave your parents and Australia behind?"

Jake shook his head. "I wanna stay with Archur!"

"Well now that that's settled," Arthur coughed awkwardly, "Um…is it possible for me to call home for a bit?"

!#%^&*()

"_Well, Mattie and I certainly don't mind. He sounds like a sweet child who needs a good home and I'd be more than happy to welcome him. Alfred says he'd rather have a koala._"

"Tell him koalas are vicious and eat people and that a new little brother will love him forever."

"…_He says he has a little brother already and would still rather have a koala._"

"Tell him he's getting a brother and he's going to like it."

**

* * *

IX. Angelique**

Arthur set his teacup down and glanced at the little girl glaring at him from across the table.

"I don't like you," she stated.

"I figured as much…and I honestly don't blame you. I've been a right git as of late and you were unfortunately on the receiving end, but I hope that you can forgive me and we can start over."

"You made Papa sad, but he forgave you. You took Papa away from Mama, but she forgave you. I don't wanna forgive you."

"I am sorry about that, but one day when you're older and you fall in love, maybe you'll understand." The glare she gave him said otherwise. "Or not."

"We coulda been a family, like all the other kids. Just me and Mama and Papa. But you took Papa away and ruined that!"

"I'm…sorry I ruined your family," Arthur said, tracing the rim of his cup, "but, if you want, you can become part of our family."

"Yeah do it!" someone shouted from the hallway, followed by several shushes and a "Quiet!"

"You do make Papa happy, somehow," she conceded, "and Matt and Jake and Alfred seem to like you…I guess I could give it a try."

Cheers erupted from the hallway. "That's all I can ask for. Now why don't I make you something to eat?"

"NO!!" Alfred, Jake, Matthew, and Francis shouted as the burst into the kitchen.

"Don't do it mate!"

"You're too awesome and cool to die!"

"Please don't risk it!"

"Angelique, _cheri_, you don't have to go that far!"

The all received a fist to the head. Francis got an extra kick to the gut, just because.

Angelique questioned the sanity of her new family, and had a feeling she'd be doing a lot of that for the next few years.

**

* * *

X. Hong**

"Hooooooooooney…*hic* 'M home!" he stated as he stumbled through the door.

"_Mon cher,_ have you been drinking?"

"S'fine I can handle it…"

"You know I don't like it when you drink."

"Yeah, well I dun like your face, but I still love ya!"

"I still love you too, but really…Arthur is that a child?"

"Hm?" he turned around drunkenly and sure enough, there was a young boy behind him. "Oh yeah, where're the kids? Boys! Girl! I've gots a surprise for ya!" he swayed, but Francis was there to catch him.

"Is Dad home?" Alfred asked from the top of the stairs. His siblings peeked out from behind him.

"Yes, he is, go back to bed. And who might you be?" he asked the boy.

"Wang Hong."

"Tha's Hong Kirkland-Bonnefoy now ya tosser!" he giggled, "Wang Hong Kirkland-Bonnefoy…"

"Dad brought us a brother?" Alfred and Jake scrambled downstairs, Matthew and Angelique not far behind.

"No-"

"Tha's right kids! I won ya a brother!"

This is why Francis hated dealing with a drunken Arthur; nothing ever made sense.

"Kids, go to bed. Monsieur Hong, please meet me in the kitchen," He pointed towards the kitchen door and turned to drag his husband over to the couch. "I said bed now."

"Yes Papa!" the kids scrambled back up the stairs while Hong made his way to the kitchen. After dumping Arthur on the couch, Francis joined him and made him some hot chocolate.

"Now, if you could be so kind as to inform me of what my husband was up to tonight…"

"I'm not…entirely sure myself. My older brother, Yao, he takes care of us, has a little bit of an opium problem mixed in with a gambling problem."

"Funny, my husband has a bit of a drinking problem mixed in with a gambling problem."

"S'not a problem if you win!" Arthur shouted from the living room.

"My brother…doesn't win. Not as long as I've been around anyway. It was my turn to drag him back home tonight, and apparently he bet a little more to Mr. Kirkland then he actually had on him…"

"So he used you to compensate?" Francis sighed, "The state of the world today…"

"Don't…it's not like Yao's a bad brother, or even a bad guardian," Hong explained, "He just has some issues he needs to get over. Hopefully this can be some kind of wake up call for him."

"You're a very optimistic child. Where are your parents while this is all going on?"

"I don't have any parents. Yao takes care of us."

"And by us, you mean other siblings?"

"Yes, there are five of us now. Yao found us, so he takes care of us, and we watch out for him."

"I see," and he did. They weren't actually blood related, just like another group of siblings he knew quite well, but that didn't mean they didn't care or worry about each other, "I'm not sure how much your brother actually lost to Arthur, but I can take you home tomorrow if you want."

"N-no waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay," Arthur said from the doorway, "I won 'im fair 'n square so I'ma gonna keep 'im!"

"Go lie down _mon cher_, the sober people are talking."

"If it's not too much trouble, I would actually prefer to stay here a while," Hong said, taking a sip of his drink, "Don't get me wrong, I love my family very much, but I'm very worried about Yao, and I think this kind of incident might set him on the right track."

"Are you sure you want to sacrifice yourself like that? For all you know we could eat children."

"I owe everything to Yao. If I can't even do this much for him I wouldn't be a very good brother. Besides, I saw your kids when I came in. They look happy enough."

"That's true enough," Francis muttered, "alright, you can stay for as long as you want. Welcome to the family Hong. Alfred, Matthew…"

"Yes?" Two voices from the hall answered.

"Do you want to take Hong upstairs and get him settled in?"

"Yeah!" Alfred burst through the door. "Hi, I'm Alfred! This is my brother Matt, and we're gonna have a lotta fun together, kay?"

"If…you say so."

Alfred grinned. Matthew shyly took Hong's hand and led him upstairs.

"You've brought home another troubling one haven't you?"

"Ya know ya love 'em," Arthur muttered as he collapsed at the table.

"You can't sleep there, _mon cher_, you'll get an even worse headache tomorrow morning."

"Dun feel like walkin'."

Francis smiled at him, "You can be so cute sometimes, but I wish you didn't have to drink yourself half to death to get that way." He sighed before lifting him into his arms bridal style and carried him off to bed.

The next morning, Francis made eggs for breakfast.

**

* * *

Bonus: IIX.V. The Second Phone Call, a.k.a I Swear, It's Not Kidnapping**

"_Hello?_"

"Yes, hello Mr. Jenkins. This is Arthur Kirkland again."

"_Oh really?_"

"Please hear me out…I just wanted to apologize for my conduct before. I said some completely inappropriate things and I really shouldn't be getting involved in your family affairs like that."

"_Well I got a bit hot-headed too, so we're both at fault mate. But, well, the wife and I were talking about it, and you were right._"

"Pardon?"

"_We weren't expecting to have kids right now, and Jakey just sorta happened. And I know ya're supposed to, ya know, dedicate some time to raising the kid or something, but we're just not ready to give up our lifestyle for that yet._"

"Well, that's your choice, I guess, and I shouldn't judge you for that…"

"_But ya do, don't cha? I think I know what kinda man ya are by now Mr. Kirkland._"

"…"

"_And ya're a good father, I can tell that much, and I know we never actually met ya or anything, but if Jakey seems to like ya and all that…ya wouldn't mind takin' 'im back to America with you would ya?_"

"Mr. Jenkins, it would be my honor."

**

* * *

Bonus: XI. Meeting Grandma**

Peter wanted to go to the zoo that day to see the monkeys or something, and Elizabeth Kirkland saw no reason not to take him herself. After several hours of wandering around and seeing just about everything the establishment had to offer, Peter was fast asleep in his stroller and she was resting in the picnic area, reading a book. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a small child approach the stroller and peek inside.

"Excuse me young man, what are you doing?" she questioned.

The boy looked up at her with his bright blue eyes, golden blonde hair rustling in the slight breeze, and smiled at her.

"I was just lookin' for my brother."

"Well I can guarantee he's not in there."

"I know," he giggled, "I saw the eyebrows and Jake has the same ones and I thought it was him so I checked."

"What's your name?"

"Alfred."

"Alfred, where are your parents?" She gave the picnic area a quick glance over and found no adults frantically searching for a child.

"Um…Matt wanted to see the polar bears so he and Dad are probably there."

"And why aren't you with him?"

"Polar bears are cool, but me and Jake wanted to see the elephants so we went to go over there instead and we sorta got a little lost and a little separated."

"Wouldn't your father be worried about you once he discovers you aren't with him?"

"But I'm fine so there's nothing to worry about!"

"I'm fairly certain he doesn't know that."

"He should. I haven't gotten hurt or in too much trouble yet."

He was such a stubborn child, but there was something about him that was rather endearing. Perhaps it was the smile.

"Your father will probably pass through this area eventually looking for you," she reasoned, "Would you like to wait with me until he comes?"

"Thanks lady, but I gotta find my brother first. I'm the big brother so I've gotta watch out for him."

She glanced at Peter, blissfully asleep. Sometimes she wondered about Peter's big brother, a bunch of what-ifs that always would come and go. But that was in the past, Peter was her future now.

"I admire your courage, Little Hero," his grin doubled at that, "but don't you think your brother will pass through here as well at some point? It's best to remain in one place when you're lost."

"I'm not lost! I know exactly where I am!"

"And where is that?"

"Right here," he pointed at the ground, "and what if Jake is staying in one place waiting for me?"

"Maybe your father had found him already or maybe he's found another kind lady to watch out for him."

"I guess," Alfred pouted.

"Come," she patted the seat next to her, "sit with me and tell me about your brother while we wait."

He climbed up on the bench and told her about Jake, who was from Austra-something. It's out back somewhere. He used to wrestle kangaroos and dingoes before their father found him and brought him home so he could play with Alfred and his little brother Matthew.

"And what about him?" he asked when he was done, peeking into the stroller again.

She told him that was her son, Peter, her youngest son, and that the eyebrows were genetic…from his father's side of the family of course. He was only two at the moment, but he was a bright and curious boy, just like Alfred, and he was her world.

He asked if he had any brothers too. She said he had an older brother, but they all had a falling out some years ago and he's never met him. He said that was sad, because brothers were lots of fun to play with. She agreed.

Eventually he complained about his hunger, so she bought him an ice cream and they talked some more, mostly about Alfred's likes and hobbies, which included, but was not limited to, adventures, archeology, quick draw, learning new things, space, hamburgers, and heroes.

"Alfred!" a voice she hadn't heard in three years shouted from across the picnic area. Said boy looked up and sure enough, Arthur was there, frantically running over to them. Alfred jumped off the bench just in time to be scooped up into Arthur's arms in a tight hug. He hadn't seen her yet, so Elizabeth quickly picked up and opened her book to hide her face.

"Alfred what the bloody hell do you think you were doing," he scolded and tried to keep the worry from his voice, but she could tell it was there.

"I just wanted to see the elephants…"

"We would have seen them eventually, you and Jake didn't have to go running off by yourselves!"

"I'm sorry…"

"You're lucky I found you both before something happened."

"But I'm fine! This nice lady was taking care of me, so it's all good."

"What if she wasn't here and some creep or pervert or…but your safe now," he sighed and put the child back on the ground, "Don't do that again, alright?"

"Yes Dad!"

"What do you say to the nice lady who went through the trouble of watching you?"

"Oh yeah," Alfred tugged at her pant leg to get her attention. She peeked over to book, pointedly ignoring Arthur. "Thank you for taking care of me and getting me ice cream."

"You're quite welcome. Try not to worry your father like that again though."

"Kay!" he smiled at her before running off to play with his brothers who were on the other side of the area.

"Don't – oh, too late…at least Matthew's with them," Arthur muttered before turning to talk to her, "Thank you for looking out for him. Truly, it means a lot to me."

"No self-respecting parent will just let a child wander around by himself…you should learn that."

"I know that…" he muttered again. Arthur was about to go back when he caught sight of Peter.

"Who…what's his name?" he asked.

"Peter."

"He's lovely…get's his eyebrows from his father I suppose," she didn't say anything. "I'm…I'm sure he'll grow up to be a fine man, much better than his brother anyway."

"His brother is a fine man, I'm sure…just a little misguided is all," she peeked out over the book again to find Arthur blushing and looking away, "your boys are lovely. Alfred is very sweet. You've done a good job raising them."

"Th-thank you, but I guess there Papa should get some credit…you, um," he coughed awkwardly, "you can always…come and visit us – them, if you want…"

"…I don't think that would be a good idea."

"Ah, of course not…well, take care then." She heard him turn and walk away.

"Arthur," she called out before she could stop herself. He turned, and she found it surprisingly hard to look into those green eyes that she used to look into every day.

"…It was nice seeing you again."

"…It was nice seeing you too."

"Please take care." He blinked, smiled, and nodded before turning to rejoin his sons, her grandsons, she supposed.

She put her book in the bag hanging off of Peter's stroller and wheeled him in the opposite direction, trying not to break down right there.

Alfred really was a sweet boy.

* * *

**If Angelique's was too short or confusing for you, then you'll be pleasantly surprised tomorrow...**


	10. Angelique: What Really Happened

**This unfortunately may be the last part for a while, as I have finals creeping up on me. Sorry about that.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

Francis was sorting through the mail when he came across a letter addressed to him. This in itself wasn't all that strange; it was his and Arthur's mail after all. No, what made him stop right there and then to open it was the cursive writing on the envelope. Say what you will about him, Francis was intrigued. Even more so when he read what was inside the letter.

Before he could contemplate more on it, the front door burst open, revealing a beat and angry Arthur.

"Somebody have a fun filled day at work?" Francis smirked, stashing the letter in his back pocket.

"Shut up frog, I'm not in the mood," he tossed his bag and jacket to the ground and loosened his tie. "Where are the kids?"

"Off exploring somewhere I suppose."

"And you're not worried?"

"Mathieu's with them."

"Good, I just want to forget about today," he kicked of his shoes and stomped up stairs. When he was about halfway to the top, he stopped, turned around, and gave Francis that look that promised so many naughty things. "Well aren't you going to join me?"

His eager stare was all the response Arthur needed before he gave the Frenchman one final smirk and sauntered the rest of the way upstairs.

Francis quickly stashed the letter in a place where he knew Arthur nor the kids would find it and hurried upstairs. He loved it when Arthur topped…

* * *

"I can't believe I'm stuck with an unruly brat like you," the woman said, tugging at her arm, "C'mon, let's go."

"No!" she screamed as she tried to pull away. "I dun wanna go with you!"

"Well it's not like there's anyone else around to take care of your ungrateful little ass! Isn't that right?" she asked the lawyer.

"Um…well…"

"Papa! Papa's gonna come and take me to his house!"

"Right, of course, that bastard who got my whore of a sister pregnant and then never showed his face again is just going to waltz in here and-"

"Take his daughter away from her Evil Aunt?" Francis finished, leaning against the doorframe, twirling a rose, "Because it's not like that's going to happen anytime soon now is it?"

"Papa?" she shyly asked. Truth be told, she had never actually seen her father before, but there was no other reason for this man to be here, and if the lawyer's disbelieving face and her Aunt's glare were anything to go by, then there was no one else he could possibly be. "Papa!"

She tried to run to him but was stopped by the vice grip her Aunt had on her arm.

"Let go of my daughter."

"Oh now she's your daughter? Where were you in her life when my sister was alive?"

"It's very hard to be there for someone when you haven't been informed of their existence," he held out the letter, "I was only told about her last week thanks to Monsieur Lawyer's letter."

"_You_…" she turned her anger on the poor lawyer.

"H-he's the father! He has a right to know…"

"What right?" She turned back to Francis, "If you did know about Angelique, would you have done the right thing and married my sister? Would you have left him?"

"No," he answered without hesitation, "but that doesn't mean I wouldn't have been there."

"Of course you would have! They'd have been an excellent afterthought! If you ever got tired of you drunken slut of a husband and all those bastard children you have held up in your house, then my broken sister and her little bastard would be a wonderful vacation."

The room went deadly silent.

"You can say whatever you want about me," Francis said after a while, "I've lived an interesting life; most of what people say was true at some point, but," he turned a death glare on her that left her shaken enough to release the girl, "don't you _dare_ say anything bad about Arthur, _never_ say anything like that about my sons again, and if I _ever_ hear you speak that way about _my daughter_, I will not be held responsible for what befalls you."

She gulped and stepped back. Angelique was frozen for a few seconds before rushing forward into her Papa's waiting embrace.

"Now, Monsieur Lawyer, where do I sign?"

* * *

Alfred looked down at his plate. "Dad, when's Papa coming home?"

Arthur's eyebrow twitched. Matt looked at him with pleading eyes but remained silent while Jake cautiously poked his food with a fork, jumping when it twitched and hissed at him.

"Papa will be home whenever Papa comes home, so pipe down and eat your dinner."

"…I think we should wait for Papa."

"Seconded!" Jake shouted. Matt just nodded. Arthur's eyebrow twitched again.

Suddenly they heard the front door open. The boys jumped out of their seats and rushed towards it with shouts of "Papa!" as they went. Arthur sighed and followed. Francis said he had a surprise for them…

"Who's that?" he hears Matt quietly ask. The other boys' screaming stop as Arthur enters the entryway to discover that Francis has brought home a little girl.

"Boys, meet Angelique. She's your new sister."

"Hello!" Alfred grabbed her hand and shook it vigorously. "My names Alfred and I'm the oldest!"

"I'm Jake!" Jake pushed Alfred out of the way. "Nice to meet ya mate!"

"Ah…I'm Matthew," Matt said from behind them.

"New sister?" Arthur asked, "And you were planning on telling me when?"

"_Mon cher_, surprises are more fun when you don't know they're coming."

"Some warning would have been nice. This house is full of boys. I'm not sure we're ready for a girl…Hello Angelica." He smiled at her.

"It's Angelique…"

"_Ma cheri_, don't fret. He's just being English. Isn't that right Mathieu?" Matt nodded. "Angelique, this is Arthur, your new father."

"But…Papa is my Papa, and I can only have one Papa…"

…Where had Francis found this girl again?

"Of course!" Alfred laughed, "That's where there's Papa," he pointed at Francis, "and Dad," he pointed at Arthur. "Jake says he has another Daddy in Australia somewhere…"

"He has three Papas?" Jake nodded. Angelique looked thoughtful for a moment. "But Mama said I only have one Papa and that's Papa…"

"Boys…" Arthur spoke in what the boys had come to know as the 'Papa's Sleeping on the Couch Tonight' tone. They shuddered at the implications that that tone provided. "Why don't you take Angelique upstairs and show her around?" Three seconds later left Francis and Arthur alone in the entryway. The Englishman immediately turned and walked back into the kitchen, his husband following behind him.

"Are you still upset that I didn't tell you before hand?" he asked, "I told you I wanted it to be a surprise."

Arthur made himself some tea and didn't look up as he asked, "Where did you get her?"

"I don't see how that-"

"You leave town for business and come back with a kid. I'd like to know where you found her."

"I could ask the same about Australia-"

"Except I told you exactly what happened. Where. Is. She. From?"

"…Promise you won't get mad…"

Arthur tapped his foot while waiting for the water to boil as a response.

"At least hear me out, _mon cher_," he nodded, so Francis continued, "Last week I received a letter from some lawyer. A dear…'friend' of mine, Michelle, had recently passed away."

"Her mother?"

"Yes."

He slowly stirred his tea, dreading asking the next question but knowing he had to.

"Are you her father?"

"…yes."

Arthur turned away, clutching his cup in a death grip as he felt his heart break.

"Arthur let me explain. It was before you-"

"We started seeing each other when I was 15! She can't be any older than Matthew!"

"It was before the marriage at least…"

The teacup started to crack. "We were _together _before the marriage…"

"If you recall correctly, there was a brief span of several months when you refused to see me-"

"That wasn't my choice!"

"I know that now…I didn't really know that then until Gilbert told me…"

"…How long?"

"How long what?"

"How long before you…did you…?"

"…You can't expect me to remember all of my sexual encounters…"

"I expect you to bloody well remember when they turn into a child!"

"…thedaybefore."

"I didn't quite catch that…"

"…the day before…"

CRASH!

Francis stared at the broken tea cup on the ground. It was easier than watching Arthur's heart break right before his eyes.

"Are you telling me the day before you asked me to leave everything behind and run away with you, _you were off fucking around with some whore_?"

"She wasn't a whore!"

"Slut then."

"Look, Arthur, my love, that was a very confusing time for me, when we were apart. I wasn't exactly in a good place…"

"Gilbert said he told my circumstance _the week before_."

"And he did, but I still had a lot of things to mull over…if anything you should thank her, because she made me realize that I only really love you."

He never thought a tea kettle would hurt that much when it came flying at his head. Perhaps Arthur just had a good arm.

"Bullshit! How many more children are going to crop up out of nowhere? I always thought Matthew had your hair…"

"No, Arthur that is just a coincidence."

"Oh, I'm _sure_ it is…"

"Just like you and Jake have the _exact same eyebrows_."

"_That_ is a coincidence! I'd never even _been _to Australia before that trip!"

"Arthur, I know, I'm just saying-"

"What? That they aren't your sons?"

"No…just that we aren't related by blood. Arthur I think you're blowing this whole thing out of proportion…"

"Out of…_out of proportion_! I just found out my husband had a child with some slut the day before he proposed to me! I think I have every right to be mad as hell and then some!"

"You're taking everything out of context!"

"Which part? The part about you having a child? The part about you fucking random sluts when I _wasn't allowed to see you_?"

"…They weren't random…"

"There was more than one?"

"Of course there was Arthur! You'd be stupid to think otherwise considering I was drunk most of our time apart anyway."

"Stupid? _Stupid?_ …Yes, stupid. I have been stupid…about a lot of things."

"Arthur, don't-"

"I thought you loved me, I guess that was pretty stupid of me to think."

"Arthur…"

"I loved you. I knew all about your reputation…you hung out with Gilbert and Antonio, that should have tipped me off, but I loved you anyway…that was pretty stupid."

"You could have shown it a little better…" he muttered under his breath before he realized just what he said, and immediately regretted it when that look of complete hopelessness passed of his husband's face.

He was quick to cover it up with pure rage though. "You…I gave up_ everything_ for you…and you just…" Arthur clenched and unclenched his fists a few times and looked around the room for something else to chuck. "Fuck this. I'm leaving." He stormed out.

"What…Arthur, you can't just leave!"

"Well like bloody hell I'm staying here!"

"What about the kids?"

"I'm taking them with me!" he stormed upstairs.

"You can't do that!"

"You can keep your bastard child!" he shouted from the top of the stairs. Francis scrambled to follow him and reached the top at the same time Arthur threw open the door to the boys' room.

"Boys, pack your things, we're leaving!"

Matthew had taken refuge under his bed when he heard Arthur coming. Jake, Alfred, and Angelique were sitting on it.

"Where are we going?" Alfred asked.

"Away. Grab whatever you want and be quick about it!" he snapped. They scrambled to follow his orders.

"Arthur!" Francis shouted when showed up in the doorway, "You're being unreasonable!"

"Running away with you, that was unreasonable. Tricking myself into thinking this could actually work out, letting you _ruin my life_ that was unreasonable. What is taking you so long?" he snapped again, causing Jake and Alfred to jump. "Matthew, get out from under there and start packing!"

"No, Arthur, you can't do this."

"I bloody well can and will."

"You _will not_ take my sons from me!"

"Jake is _mine_. I signed the papers, I paid the fees."

"…Fine, you can take him from me, although I wish you wouldn't; I love him very much and will be sad to see him go, but you _cannot _take Matt and Alfred!"

"I can, I will, and I will get a fucking restraining order if I have to in order to keep you away! Boys get to the car!"

"But what about-"

"_Now_." The jumped and obeyed. "Matt get out from under there!"

"Alfred!" Francis called, "Get back in here!"

"No! Alfred and Jake, get in the car! Matt, come out and join them!"

Matt shook his head which he held in his hands and started crying. Angelique, who had long since run off into a corner of the room, started crying as well. Alfred remained frozen in the doorway, not sure what to do.

After an intense glare down, Arthur scoffed and walked out of the room, grabbing Alfred as he left.

"Fine. I'll come back with a court order and get him!"

"I'd like to see you try!"

Arthur ignored him as he dragged Alfred outside to the car where Jake already was and drove to the nearest motel for the night. After making sure the boys were fast asleep, he pulled out his phone and made a call.

"_Hello?_" a sleepy voice responded.

"Vash?"

"_Arthur? What is it?_"

"I…need a p-place to stay for a bit."

"_Just you? What happened?_"

"Alfred and Jake are with me…I just…"

"…_My parents still want nothing to do with you Arthur…I don't think you can stay here._"

"Oh…w-well that's fine. I'm sure I can-"

"_Gilbert's father is out of town, and even if he wasn't, he's still upset at your parents. I'm sure Gilbert and Ludwig will have no qualms with you guys staying there for a bit._"

"Th-thank you. We'll be over tomorrow if it's alright."

"_It'll be fine. Are you going to be alright Arthur?_"

"Yes, I should be…"

"_If you say so…I'll see you tomorrow._"

"Yes, see you then." He hung up the phone, placed it on the nightstand, and finally let himself cry.

* * *

"I think Alfred's depressed," Arthur noted as he watched the boys play in the living room. Or more accurately, watch Ludwig read, Jake fidget around while watching TV and Alfred just sit there.

Gilbert wanted to smack him upside the head. "Of course he's depressed! The kid hasn't said a word since he walked through the door and has done nothing but stare off into space! And he's not the only one…"

"What do you mean?"

"Your tea's cold," Arthur looked down and noticed that was true, "you haven't even touch it even though I went through the trouble of making it awesome for you."

"Hm…" he sighed and looked back to the living room.

"Your being here has lowered the awesome level of the house from like a billion to about three, and it's not any lower only because I'm still here."

"I'm sorry for intruding…"

"You're not supposed to be sorry! You're supposed to smirk and be a condescending ass and toss British insults at me. This is why I've never fallen in love, it's so not awesome."

"Hm," he agreed.

"What's that Arthur? Did you say that that's only because no one could ever love you anyway? Well, Ludwig loves me so-"

"Bruder," Ludwig said as he walked in the kitchen to get a drink, "you're arguing with yourself again."

"Well what else am I supposed to do? I can't deal with this kind of Arthur…"

"I don't know much about it, but I'm pretty sure you're going about it the wrong way."

"Well if you know so much about it than why don't you fix Alfred?"

"I just said I didn't know much about it…"

"Alfred," Arthur spoke up, "has never been away from Matthew for more than a day before…"

"Is that all? Ludwig, go play with your cousin while I fix Arthur. And I want you to actually _play_ with him, not get lost in your own little world. Got it?"

"But Bruder…"

"Relax. I've got an awesome plan that will fix everything. Now run along."

Ludwig looked at his brother apprehensively, but ran off to do what he was told.

"I don't _need_ fixing," Arthur insisted, "I'm perfectly fine. Never been better…"

"Riiight," Gilbert sighed, "Listen, I've known Francis for a long time. To be honest, I never actually expected you guys to last for so long, partly because you're kinda a jerk and he just doesn't do the whole relationship thingy," Arthur shot his cousin a glare, who continued as if he didn't notice (he didn't), "but you did somehow. And I know for a fact that he never cheated on you during your marriage, and he actually did stop sleeping around when you two were together."

"Thanks Gilbert, I feel soooo much better…" Gilbert perked up for a moment thinking the Briton had gotten some of his fire back, but was disappointed when Arthur only sighed and sunk further into his chair. "He ran off and had a daughter…"

"You weren't together then, it doesn't count. And if you saw him during the time you were apart, well…it wasn't pretty."

"Why are you always on his side?"

"Hey this has been hard on me too. Whenever you two fight I can't talk to one of my best friends without feeling like I'm turning my back on you."

"Then why don't you just-"

"Because we're family," Roderich said as he let himself in the backdoor, "and even Gilbert can understand that much."

"Would you at least knock? This isn't your house you know!"

"Elizaveta is visiting a friend right now. Rather than disturb her, I'll just wait here."

"…You can't find your own house, can you?"

"I don't see how that matters," he helped himself to some of the (now cold) tea Gilbert had painstakingly made and sat down at the table, "Shouldn't we be trying to cheer Arthur up instead?"

"I don't need cheering up. I'm perfectly happy…" His cousins stared at him, clearly not believing him.

"C'mon, I know what will cheer you up!" Gilbert shot up, grabbed his arm, and headed for the door, "We'll hit the town! Get you completely wasted! Paint the world red! It'll be awesome! Ludwig, you're in charge!" he shouted as an afterthought.

"Yes, because nothing cheers a person up better than a depressant…I really don't think Arthur should be drinking now."

"Stop being a spoil-sport Specs and come with us," he said as he grabbed his arm to and dragged his cousins outside. "At the very least, let's get some fresh air. That house is getting depressing."

Ludwig peeked out the window after his brother and cousins and sighed. Bruder was always doing reckless things…

* * *

"Antonio, have you seen my wine?" Francis asked, puzzled, "I swear I had at least ten bottles here last night…"

"You drank nine of them already. And I hid the last one."

"I'm pretty sure you're mistaken, as I could not have-"

"Yeah, you kinda did."

"…Well can I-"

"No. No more wine for you. Why do you always do this to yourself when he leaves?"

"Is he gone? I haven't noticed. I don't care what or who he does or where his is. He's a grown man."

"It's okay that you miss him…I hoped you two would have gotten past that stage after you had kids and everything."

Francis stopped moving around the kitchen and tightly gripped the can opener he happened to be holding at the time.

"He can't express his feelings, he thinks he's always right even when he's not, he has one of the most insufferable personalities that I have ever come across, and over all he's really just a horrible person."

"But…" Antonio prompted.

"But, I love him. And I miss him, and Alfred, and Jake, who he'll probably never let me see again."

"That's why you need to go to him! Admit your mistake and beg for his forgiveness!"

"Angelique is not a mistake!"

"I'm pretty sure if you don't plan for something, it's a mistake. She's probably the loveliest mistake in the history of mistakes though. And that's not the point; the point is that you did mess up, big time."

"_He's _the one who overreacted."

"True, but you know how he gets, and he wouldn't have been able to overreact if you didn't mess up in the first place."

"I can't…he's too mad. I can't just go crawling back to him. He might force me to abandon Angelique, and I won't do that to her again."

"I don't know Arthur as well as you do, but he doesn't seem the type to just leave a child by herself in the big scary world," Antonio said thoughtfully, "Isn't that what the problem with Jake was?"

"He probably doesn't want me back anyway," Francis sighed as he went back to cooking.

"You know that's not true."

"You weren't there…he was very upset, and you know how emotional he can be."

"He loves you," the Spaniard said, as if that solved everything.

"He did…who knows if he still does." With a final flip, the food in the pan landed on four plates placed out on the counter by the stove. "Angelique! Mathieu! Dinner's ready!"

Angelique hurried downstairs, but the blonde head was missing. "Matt said he doesn't want to come down yet."

"Still?" Antonio questioned. "He's been locked up in his room ever since I got here," he gasped as it all clicked, "He hates me doesn't he! What did I ever do to earn such hatred?"

"I'm fairly certain he's more upset about his brother being gone than about you being here, _mon ami_."

"Ah! That would make more sense."

Angelique smiled at her Papa before grabbing the two plates and heading back upstairs. When she got to Matt's door, she gently knocked and pushed it open when there was no response. Upon entering the dark room, she saw her new brother lying curled up on his bed, looking out the window, where he had been all week.

"I brought you food," she said, placing the plate by him on the nightstand. Matt didn't move. "Papa's worried about you. Antonio actually thinks you hate him." Still no response. "I suppose he just can't see that it's really me you hate…"

"I don't hate you," he said, not turning to face her, "I just…you've never had a brother before have you?"

"No, I'm an only child," she admitted.

"Alfred has always been there for me. Since even before we met Dad and Papa. He'd always protected me and be there when I needed him, and now he's just…" his voice hitched; he'd started crying. Angelique placed her plate of food down and lay next to him, wrapping her arms around him in a hug.

"I'm sorry," she said after a while, "It's my fault your brothers are gone."

"N-no it's not. It's Dad's and Papa's. 'Adults do silly things sometimes. Don't blame yourself for that.' Alfred used to say that to me…"

"He sounds like a good brother." Matt nodded and she tightened her hug. "Don't worry, I'm sure he'll come home soon, they all will. You'll see."

* * *

Ludwig had no idea what he was doing. Alfred was the one who usually dragged everyone into playing ridiculous games, and Ludwig was man enough to admit that his imagination could not even compare to his cousin's. But with Alfred just moping about, there really wasn't anything he could do about it. Jake wasn't helping much either.

"I'm telling you, the best way to help him forget is for us to go beat up something," he insisted. "Trust me, it works every time."

"We're not allowed to leave the house without Bruder or Roderich or Vash. And I'm not letting you beat me up."

"Awesome, it's no fun if they don't fight back!" Ludwig glared at him. "I'm just kidding Luddy, I wouldn't hit you."

"Alfred," the blonde asked his cousin, "what do you want to play?"

"…Nothing."

"Well, what do you want to do?"

"…I wanna go home."

"I just told you we can't leave the house."

"Well why not?" Alfred turned on his cousin, suddenly very angry, "We were dragged away from our house and brought here without anybody asking! Why should we need your brother or anyone else to go back? It's not fair!"

"Do you even know where your house is?"

"Of course I do. I could find it easily if I had to," he punched the nearby wall, causing a small dent. Ludwig was about to criticize him, but thought better of it. "I've had it with this. Matt needs me and I wanna see him. I'm going home."

"You don't know if he needs you or not," Ludwig pointed out, "he could be getting along fine without you."

"How would you feel if Gilbert just suddenly was taken away from you?" Ludwig looked away. True, he did need Gilbert, but his and Matthew's were completely different situations. Alfred was just acting crazy, and he told him as much.

"No, it's exactly the same, and if Dad won't take us back, then I'll just go myself. You can come too if you want."

"Why would I want to go to your house?"

"Just offering. Jake, you coming? I won't make you if you'd rather stay with Dad."

"And miss out on the adventure? I'm with you mate. Besides, Matt's my brother too, and I wanna see him."

"You two…"

"Don't tell Dad where we went 'kay?" Alfred added, "Just keep it our secret."

And there was nothing Ludwig could do or say to stop his cousins for leaving the house, wandering in the dark to who knows where. He hoped the others would get home soon…

* * *

Gilbert and Arthur came home sometime after ten, completely sober and still very depressed.

"You've got it bad if you can't even enjoy a good beer anymore…" Gilbert sighed as he walked into the dark house and turned on the lights. "Ludwig! We're back!"

"They're probably sleeping, don't wake them up," Arthur said. The albino scoffed and walked into the living room when he caught a blonde head asleep on the couch.

"Hey Ludwig," he pushed him awake, "where are your cousins?"

"Hm?" the boy rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, "They went home."

Arthur slowly turned to face him. "Wh-what do you mean they went home?"

"They went home." He repeated and yawned.

"Ludwig…why did you let them…" Gilbert was saying.

"I tried to stop them, but…they went home."

"That bastard!" Arthur lashed out and hit the wall. It was the first emotion he'd shown since he got there. "It's not enough that he ripped out my heart, but now he's stolen my kids!"

"Arthur calm down, you don't know that."

"I bloody well do know that! Who else could it be! That bastard, I'll…" he grabbed his jacket and ran outside.

"Arthur wait!" Gilbert called after him to no avail.

"It's supposed to rain…" Ludwig was saying, "I was hoping they'd realize it and come back…I'm sorry Bruder…this is my fault."

"D-don't say that," he hugged his brother and held him in his arms, "You did everything you could. It's not your fault. Arthur will find them eventually, don't worry…"

Ludwig wrapped his arms around his brother's neck and squeezed tightly. "You're…not going to leave, are you?"

"…No, I'll stay right here and wait for them with you, if that's what you want."

"Thank you."

* * *

Matt didn't appreciate the pounding at the door, he was trying to sleep. Some people had no manners, but he went downstairs and answered it anyway, because he did have manners.

"D-Dad…?" It certainly looked like his dad, except angry. Really angry; angrier than he was the last time Matt saw him. The fact that he was soaked only helped make him look more like a demon than a human.

"Matthew!" his expression softened as he scooped the boy into his arms. "Good boy, sweet boy…I've missed you…"

"I've missed you too…" Matt clung to him and looked out over his shoulders for any sign of his brothers, "Where's Alfred?"

"That's what I want to know, where's your Papa?"

"Upstairs sleeping."

"**FRANCIS!**" he bellowed, causing several things to shake and Antonio to fall of the couch.

"¿_Que hora es?_" he muttered. "Arthur? What are you doing here…?"

"_Quelle heure est il?_" Francis muttered as he appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Francis, look! Arthur came back," Antonio pointed excitedly, failing to read the atmosphere.

"Arthur…what…?"

"Where are they!" he demanded, "Where are you keeping them?"

"What are you-"

"Don't pretend not to know you bloody frog! Where are Alfred and Jake?"

"Last time I checked they were with you…did you lose them?"

"Sh-shut up! You took them! You had to have! Or else they'd be…"

"…Arthur, what happened?"

"Damnit!" the Briton turned and fled back out the door into the rain.

"Antonio, watch the kids for a bit," Francis said as he ran down the stairs, grabbed a coat, shoes, and umbrella, and ran out the door as well.

After running around for a bit, he spotted Arthur leaning against the side of a building, trembling with either tears or cold or both. Francis walked up behind him and covered him with the umbrella, causing him to look up and turn around to face him.

"Francis…"

"Where did you last see them?"

"Gilbert's house, but that was hours ago…Ludwig was supposed to…but they…" he broke down and started crying in earnest against Francis's chest.

"I can't I can't I can't lose them! They're all I have left! I can't…"

"Calm down, _mon cher_," Francis whispered in his ear as he snuck an arm around him, "don't fret, we'll find them. They have to be somewhere."

"But what if…what if…"

"Don't think like that _mon cher_. They'll be fine, you'll see," he tightened his arm around the other man, "Don't worry, we'll definitely find them."

After a few moments, Arthur stopped sobbing and took a step back, wiping his eyes in the process.

"Th-thank you…" he muttered, "you don't have to-"

"Alfred and Jake are my sons too. I'm worried about them," he said as he grabbed Arthur's hand, "Now let's go find them."

Arthur nodded and followed.

* * *

"We're lost," Jake stated.

"We're not lost. I know exactly where we are."

"Where are we then?"

"Right here."

"We're lost…"

Alfred looked around the unfamiliar street. True he had no idea where here was, but heroes were never lost! He needed to get back to Matt soon, but this really seemed like a much better idea back at Ludwig's house where it was safe and dry. Oh well. He'd already made his decision and headed out, so there was no going back now. Not that he could have found his way back if he wanted to, but that's beside the point.

"It's cold and wet and raining mate," Jake said shivering, "I wanna see Matt as much as you do, but face it: Ludwig was right and you have no idea where you're going."

"Of course I do!" The blonde looked down each of the streets before him before pointing to one at random, "we go this way!"

Jake rolled his eyes before following his brother's hunch; it's not like they had a better lead anyway. Instead of finding home however, they found a bunch of older kids. With knives. Sharp, pointy, don't-touch-those-or-you'll-lose-a-finger knives.

"Where'd these kids come from?" One of them was saying, "This is our turf ya hear? We ain't got no time to babysit some snot-nosed brats. Scram!"

Jake grabbed Alfred's arm and was about to drag him away, but before he could, his brother had to shout, "Yeah, well you smell funny!"

Jake may have grown up around wild animals, but the same logic still applied: don't pick a fight with them, and they'll leave you alone. It's a shame Alfred hadn't learned that yet.

"Whaddija say punk?" the guy shouted, advancing towards them menacingly.

"Leave 'im alone," one of the other's said, "he's just a kid. Don't know any better, ya know?"

"Kid or not, no one disrespects me, ya hear? Someone's got to teach 'im a lesson!"

"Pft, you're not so tough," Alfred said, sticking out his tongue. Jake facepalmed.

"That's it! You're dead!" He lunged forward to attack.

"_Britannia Kick!_" and was unceremoniously kicked into the wall.

Arthur stood in front of him, soaked, eyes wild, mad as hell, and was about to beat this punk half to death before a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"_Mon cher_, it's fine, you've done enough," Francis said.

"Humph," Arthur spit in his general direction, "Anyone who rises to the taunts of a five year old isn't worth it anyway."

"Dad!"

"Papa!"

Alfred and Jake ran forward and latched themselves to their guardians. The street gang looked from their unconscious leader to the reunited family and was about to attack, but one glare from Arthur sent them scrambling away.

With that dealt with, he turned his attention to his sons.

"You…" he scooped both of them into his arms and held tightly, "I was so worried, so worried…Don't you _ever_ run away like that again!"

"Sorry Dad…" they said simultaneously, "we won't do it again."

"See that you don't…" he pulled away and wiped his eyes before picking up Jake while Francis had Alfred.

"Now let's go home," he said, "all of us."

* * *

"_You can be such a bastard sometimes._"

"Sorry Gilbert, I was worried."

"_I was worried too! You didn't have to run out like that!"_

"I'm sorry…it was inconsiderate of me."

"_Damn right it was. You owe Ludwig an apology too. It's not his fault you're kids are fucking crazy."_

"I'm sorry Ludwig was worried, but my sons are not 'fucking crazy' and I take offense to that."

"_No, I guess they're just the regular crazy, but with Francis as a father I'll give them 'till puberty._"

"Not if I can help it…"

"_Oh you're just as bad; don't deny it. Anyway, so, this does mean you're officially one big happy family again?_"

"Yes, we are. Um…well, th-thank you for, um…"

"_No problem Cuz, it's what family does. You all take care you hear?"_

"Yes, and you as well. Good-bye Gilbert." With that, Arthur hung up the phone.

"So," Francis said as he snuck his arms around his husband, "We still haven't had the make-up sex yet."

"I'm too tired right now," Arthur sighed, leaning back into his touch. He'd missed that, "ask again tomorrow."

"I will hold you to that. And about Angelique…"

"Well we can't kick her out now can we? Her whore of a mother is already dead."

"I told you she's not-"

"Sorry, I meant slut. Anyway, she's your daughter right? Well, that means she's mine as well."

"So she can stay?"

"Of course she can stay; this household needs some estrogen anyway."

Francis kissed along the back of Arthur's neck. "I love you, you know."

Arthur picked up one of Francis's hands and kissed the palm. "Yes, I love you too."

"We can make this work right?"

"Of course we can, for always and forever."

* * *

**Bleh, cheesy ending is cheesy. And the lawyer's name was Sparrow Left. Massive amounts of Awesome Points to anyone who knows why.**

**Oh, and:**

Que hora es/Quelle heure est il - Spanish/French for 'What time is it?'


	11. The First Day of School

**Toris's first day on the new job! Now maybe my muse will leave me alone and let me finish my finals in peace!**

**Pairings: Liet/Pol if you want it, FrUK. **

**Warnings: Lovino talking.**

**Enjoy.  
**

* * *

Toris glanced down the list of names again. This was his first day at his new job and he didn't want to ruin it by messing up someone's name right off the bat.

"Haha," his partner, Feliks, laughed from across the desk, "Some kid named Charlie likes to eat crayons," he read off of the facts sheet that some of the other teachers had prepared for him. Basically just notes and tidbits about each of the students he had based on their past experiences, "Apparently he like, prefers blue."

"Feliks you shouldn't be reading that, and don't judge him to harshly just because you preferred the pink ones when you were young."

"They were like, totally superior to the rest of the box!" he argued, "But whatev. Seriously Tor, have you like, read this? Some of these kids are messed up!"

"I prefer to judge them based on my own experiences. Each child is a precious-"

"Yeah yeah, I've like heard you go on about this before," he waved him off, "but you've like never spent time alone with my cousin before."

Toris leaned over to watch Ivan, the cousin in question, coloring silently at the table in the back. "He can't be as bad as you make him out to be."

"But he like, totally is! I'm only in the same room with him now 'cause like, Katyusha's too busy to drop him off today and his dad is like, total no show at these kinds of things for cereal."

This year the school had instituted a new 'sign in' rule for all grades where the parents had to physically drop off their children and sign them in so the teacher could actually meet them. They said it was so the teachers could 'connect with the families more,' but everyone knew it was just so they knew who to call when someone got in trouble. That didn't stop Toris from wanting to take advantage of the opportunity to get to know his kids' families though, and it didn't stop his first student's family from sending a cousin instead. Not that he didn't understand the situation, after all Feliks was living with him, so it was probably easier he dropped him off.

"You should see what the others say about him Tor," he pushed the list into Toris's hands, and recited, "_Eager to make friends…a little too eager. He's a loner and a bit creepy if you ask me. Try to keep him from Alfred, for your sanity's sake._"

Ivan looked up and smiled at him, causing Feliks to shutter. "Well, like, I signed him in and everything. The other parents and their brats should be coming soon."

"They're not-"

"Do you, like," he went on, ignoring his partner's protests, "need me to do anything else or something?"

"No that's fine," indeed the other parents were now filing into his classroom, "I'll see you at home."

"Good luck Mr. Lorinaitis," the blonde winked, "you're gonna need it." With that, he left.

Toris introduced himself to the parents and the children, who sometimes smiled back, sometimes ignored him, or even asked him for a cookie. The parents were sometimes polite, sometimes rushed, but generally pleasant people, and that made the sign-ins run smoothly. He should have known it wouldn't have lasted.

All of the students so far had been avoiding Ivan in the back, who kept coloring, which troubled Toris a little, until Im Yong Soo showed up.

"Hello, aru," a young man with long, dark hair said, tugging on Yong Soo's hand. "I'm Im Yong Soo's brother, Wang Yao. I sign him in here right?"

_Im Yong Soo's a bit hyperactive and takes credit for everyone else's work. This isn't really much of a problem in perspective, and he's a happy enough child. His siblings are involved in his life, and he gets good grades, despite not having real parents, so just make sure to keep him calm and he's easy to deal with._

"Oh yes," he pushed the clipboard forward and offered Yao a pen, "Hello Yong Soo. I know you and I are going to be great friends."

"Me too teach," the young Korean grinned, "after all, I created the school system."

"Um, what?"

"He does that a lot, aru. You can just ignore it."

"Ah, Yao," sometime during the conversation Ivan had gotten out of his seat and walked to the front of the class, "I didn't know you'd be here."

Yao forced a grin, "Of course I'm here. I have to drop my little brother off, aru. You two should go play now…"

"Come on Yong Soo," Ivan grabbed the other boy's wrist and dragged him off, "let's go play."

"Wait, Ivan, stop, I don't-" he could do nothing against the other's grip however, and was seated at the back table only moments later.

"Where are your parents, if you don't mind me asking," Toris asked, "I've noticed that you're listed as the primary contact and, well…"

"We don't have parents, aru," he said as he finished his name with a flourish, "I take care of them. That's not a problem is it?"

"Not at all, I was just curious." He smiled, Yao wasn't convinced.

"Our family gets along fine as it is aru. Yong Soo is a good kid with bad luck. Please remember that." He nodded curtly and left.

A little later a tall Italian man came in with two kids, one all smiles while the other glared at everyone in eyesight, who looked similar. Toris didn't think there were any twins on his list…

"Hello!" the man greeted warmly enough, "Roma Vargas here with his adorable grandchild Feliciano!"

_Feliciano Vargas is an interesting child. Very artistic and friendly to the point where he annoys the others. If you have Ludwig in your class then he'll probably just stick with him, but if you don't, well, he'll annoy anyone you stick him next to. His biggest problem might be his brother, who's cynical despite his young age, and his Grandfather, who's very protective, but whatever you do, do not question Vargas. Ever._ _Just don't. Entire family may also be addicted to pasta.  
_  
"Hello Feliciano," Toris smiled, "I hope we can have lots of fun together this year!"

"Ve, me too."

"It's a shame your twin brother can't join us."

"Chigi!" the brother spit out, "I'm his older brother! I'm no one's twin bastard!" Toris could do nothing but blink.

"But Lovi~" the Grandpa squealed, picking up and hugging his grandson tightly, "that's a compliment! You should always be trying to look younger than you actually are!"

"Stupid…bastard…let go of me!"

During this, Feliciano had gotten bored and wandered to the back of the class, where he found interest in something Yong Soo had drawn and sat next to him.

"Well I should go drop Lovino off," Mr. Vargas said before slamming his hand on the desk, causing Toris to jump, "but I just want you to know, Feliciano is one of my precious grandsons, my own flesh and blood. I expect his school life to be full of good times and fun memories, got it?"

"Y-yes of course…"

"I mean it. You're a new teacher right?" Toris nodded, "Well hopefully this won't be your last job, hm?"

"I sure hope not…"

"Good. I don't want it to be your last job either."

"Grandpa, stop scaring the new blood and drop me off damnit!" Lovino shouted, tugging on the man's arm.

"Of course Lovi, we're going," he turned back to Toris, "I hope you'll tell me if anything goes wrong, right?" He nodded again as they left. That was a scary, scary man…

Most of the other children had shown up by the time a young blonde child waltz in with a tall aristocratic looking man sporting glasses.

"Roderich Edelstein dropping off Ludwig Beilschmidt," he said as he approached the desk, "I'm sorry about the confusion, but his father is currently out of town and his brother is, well, his brother."

_Ludwig Beilschmidt is an angel. He's quiet, productive, and can distract Feliciano for any given amount of time. His only downside might be that he never seems to have any fun, and his brother, Gilbert, who's a pain to deal with. Fortunately Ludwig is so well behaved you never have to deal with the rest of his family._

"That's fine, I'm sure he's very busy. Hello Ludwig. I hope you have an enjoyable year."

"Yes, I do too. Is there anything I need to sign?"

"No, it's just for the adults. You can go play with the others if you want."

"Ah, okay." As soon as he turned around though, he was tackle-hugged to the ground.

"Ve, Ludwig! You finally showed up! I was worried you wouldn't come this year!"

"Feliciano, this is school. I haven't missed a day since we first met. Why would I miss now?"

"You could have been kidnapped or eaten! It happens a lot, ve."

"We live in a town far away from any wildlife capable of eating humans. And do you really think Gilbert would let someone kidnap me?"

"Ah, I guess not." Feliciano smiled at his friend before grabbing his hand and dragging him to the back table with the others.

"He shouldn't be a problem," Roderich explained, "but if something does happen," he scribbled a phone number down and handed the paper to Toris, "please call me."

"But the emergency contact list-"

"Yes, it has Gilbert and Vash on there. Vash is usually…unreachable during the day and Gilbert is Gilbert. Calling me will be your best bet almost 90% of the time."

"If you say so…"

"If that's settled, I have a meeting to get to. If you'd excuse me," he turned and left, exchanging a nod and an "Arthur" with the blonde man who rushed in after him. He gave a brief nod and a "Roderich" in return before pushing past him. Toris looked at the clock; class was supposed to start in about three minutes.

"S-sorry we're late. Alfred couldn't find half his things."

"I told you, we were playing hide and seek!"

"You can't play hide and seek with inanimate objects."

_Alfred Kirkland-Bonnefoy is a real character. Hopeless in geography and English, but excels in any of the sciences and math. He has a real hero complex and is protective of his friends and family, so if another student says or does something against them, he'll start a fight. His fathers are chores to deal with together, so try talking to either one or the other. I recommend Arthur for academic problems and Francis for behavioral ones. Keep away from Ivan.  
_  
"Hello Alfred," the child beamed at him, "I hope we'll have a lot of fun this year."

"Of course we will Mr. Teacher Person! I'm a hero, and heroes always have fun!" He looked around the classroom before his eyes settled on…

"Ivan!"

"Good morning Alfred!" Ivan smiled at him, "I'm so happy we're in the same class this year again."

Alfred was about to run off, but Arthur tugged him back.

"You promised, no fights today, remember?"

"But Dad…"

"No fights or I'll cook dinner tonight," Alfred shuddered but nodded, which seemed to be enough for Arthur as he let him go. The blonde child ran to the back of the room and sat himself between Ludwig and Yong Soo, across the table from Ivan.

Arthur blushed before turning back to sign his name, "Sorry about him…he's a good kid most of the time. Just a bit, um, over-reactive I suppose."

"That's quite alright Mr. Kirkland-Bonnefoy."

"Just Kirkland. Mr. Bonnefoy is dropping off the other three down the hall." He finished off his signature and handed the clipboard back, "Is that it?"

As soon as he said that, a blonde Frenchman stuck his head in the room, "Hey Arthur, I'm done already! I told you Mathieu, Jake, and Angelique would be faster than Alfred!"

"Like hell frog! I'm done as well and I have been for the past five minutes!"

"You only showed up about two minutes ago," Toris pointed out.

"Whose side are you on?" Arthur hissed at him as Francis laughed.

"Remember our bet? You owe me a-"

"Sh-shut up frog! There are children present! You'll get it later…" Mr. Kirkland whispered as he pushed his husband out of the classroom.

Toris looked around the room, eyes lingering on the table in the back. This was going to be an interesting year.


	12. First Impressions

**This is the next instalment, and it's all about Ivan! Yay! whoo! hooray! ect.**

**Enjoy.  
**

**

* * *

I. The Kirkland-Bonnefoys**

Katyusha nervously rang the doorbell and adjusted the container of pudding in her arms.

"Do we have to do this?" Natalia complained, "We do this every time and it's boring."

"Of course we do," she smiled down at her sister, "How else are you supposed to make new friends?"

"We never stay long enough to make 'friends,'" she muttered, "and there are never any other kids anyway."

"Well, maybe this time will be different."

"You say that every time and it never is."

Ivan wasn't paying attention to this as he was staring at the rosebushes along the side of the house. He could have sworn he saw them moving before…

"Ow! Al, that's my foot!" one of the bushes hissed.

"Sh! Quiet Matt! You'll give us away, mate!" another hissed back.

"Both of you shut up!" a female bush hissed at both of them.

"Kat," Ivan tugged on his sister's arm, "the rosebushes are talking…"

"Don't be silly Ivan. Plants can't talk." She consoled, patting her little brother on the head.

"But…" just then the door opened, revealing an older, blonde man with long wavy hair and a sort of beard on his face.

"Well well, what a lovely surprise," he basically purred, "Can I help you with anything?"

"Hello!" Katyusha smiled and offered him the pudding, "We just moved in next door, so, uh, we thought we'd come over and introduce ourselves." The man took the pudding and continued staring at her. "My name's Katyusha Braginski," she gestured to her sister, "my younger sister Natalia," a hand was placed on Ivan's head, though he was still staring at the rosebushes, "and this is Ivan."

"_Trés magnifique,_" he exclaimed before wrapping a spare arm around the young woman's shoulders, "My name is Francis Bonnefoy. Why don't you come inside so we can get even more acquainted?"

"I'm fifteen and my dad is in the military…" came the rehearsed response.

"I'm married and have four children, who are around here somewhere," he laughed it off, "Come in come in; we can still have coffee, non?"

She smiled awkwardly but let him usher her inside, shutting the door and leaving Natalia and Ivan to fend for themselves.

"Now what?" Natalia asked. Ivan just shrugged. The rosebushes shouted "NOW!"

Four kids jumped out of the rosebushes and started pelting them with water balloons and spraying them with squirt guns. It was a hot summer day, so it felt nice, but it was still pretty rude, so Ivan tried his best to protect Natalia from the evil rosebush savages that lived in the area. He tried to back away, but that accidentally pushed his little sister off the stoop they were standing on causing her to take a tumble off the stoop, onto the cold, unforgiving brick walkway below.

"Natalia!" he shouted a moment to late as he was forced to watch his sister fall to her certain demise. Only not quite so much, as one of the savages darted away from the mob at the last second and caught her before she hit the ground, causing his cowboy hat to go flying.

"Are you alright there Little Miss?" he asked her with a blinding grin on his face. Natalia blushed a little but nodded.

"We did it mate!" the brown haired savage shouted, "We saved the princess from the dragon!"

"Hooray!" the other two shouted as the savage still holding his sister stood up and helped her to her feet.

"Eh? Dragon?" Ivan was confused, "I am not a dragon, I'm Ivan. And she is not a princess, she's Natalia. We just moved in next door."

"No," The cowboy exclaimed as he wrapped an arm around his sister, "You are the terrifyingly powerful dragon that has been kidnapping young maidens and forcing them to eat scones, uh, Ivansauruscopter. This is the Princess Nataliabelle from the kingdom of Justoverthereoplis who is very beautiful," the female savage squirted him with her gun, "But not as beautiful as Adventurer Angelchelle. We are the Adventure Squad, and we were sent to defeat you and rescue the princess and save the world!"

"Eh?" Ivan was starting to think his new neighbors were crazy.

"We're just playing around mate," one of the savages winked at him, "don't take it too seriously."

"Al, I told you, you can't just make just make random people the villain," the savage who looked just like the cowboy said.

"But we need a villain! And call me by my adventure name!"

"Hero Adventurer Al the Awesome," he sighed, "we can't just force people to play with us."

"Why not? We're pretty awesome. They should be honored to be included in our game."

"We should have asked first," the girl said to Ivan, "we're sorry we dragged you into our game. Would you like to play with us?"

"Eh?"

"I'm Alfred Kirkland-Bonnefoy," the cowboy introduced himself by taking his sister's hand and placing a kiss on it, "otherwise known as Hero Adventurer Al the Awesome!"

"I'm Matthew Kirkland-Bonnefoy," the other blonde said with a smile, "um, Adventurer Mattnuk!"

"Jake Kirkland-Bonnefoy," the other boy smiled, "Adventurer Jakearoo!"

"And I'm Angelique Kirkland-Bonnefoy," the girl stated, "Adventurer Angelchelle!"

"Ivan Braginski, and that's my sister Natalia."

"Nice to meet ya," Al the Awesome saluted, "so you wanna play or what?"

No one outside his family had ever offered to play with Ivan before. Usually there either weren't any children his age in the neighborhood he moved into or they all didn't bother with him because they knew he was going to move soon. As a result, Ivan also didn't have any real attachments to people outside of his sisters, but maybe he could change that. Natalia was already warming up to Al, going so far as to cling to him instead of Ivan, for which the latter was eternally grateful.

"Sure, we'd love to play with you."

**

* * *

II. The Wangs**

Ivan hated moving in the winter. It was already halfway through the school year, so no one was willing to make new friends again, and it was cold, so he couldn't see the neighborhood before he had to move again.

Still, Katyusha dragged them next door with the pudding and was knocking on the dragon-shaped knocker like always, and Ivan was thoroughly miserable.

At least he was until the really pretty lady answered the door.

"Can I help you, aru?"

Oh, the voice was too deep. Really pretty man then.

"Hello!" His sister said, handing him the pudding, "My name's Katyusha Braginski. This is Ivan and Natalia. We just moved in next door and thought we should come over and say hi."

"Yes, hello," he took the pudding and gave them a skeptical look over. "…Do you want to come in?"

"Well it is a tad nippy," the three of them made their way inside, kicking off their shoes as the man shut the door.

"Wang Yao," he introduced himself as the trio took off their winter coats, "we were just about to have some tea, if you'd like to join us."

"Thank you very much," Katyusha smiled as Yao led his guests into the sitting room area where a kotatsu was set up with three other people already snuggled under it.

"Yao!" the youngest shouted, "Who are they?"

"Yong Soo, Kiet, Hong, these are the Braginskis. They just moved in next door. Kiku and Mei are out today, so you can just squeeze in with the others while I get the tea."

Katyusha made herself comfortable next to Kiet, Natalia next to Hong, and Ivan sat at the empty space where he knew Yao would sit.

"S-so," Kiet started, face extremely red. It was very warm under that kotatsu, "how do you like the neighborhood so far?"

"It's lovely," Katyusha answered, "Although we haven't seen much of it yet, because of the snow."

"Well, maybe later I can show you around…"

She smiled. "My dad's in the military."

"Burn." Hong stated. Kiet shot him a glare while Yong Soo laughed.

"I won't, I-I mean that doesn't really…ana…"

"Kiet it's a lost cause," Yong Soo reached over and pat his arm, "trust me. I invented flirting."

"Eh? Is that true?" Ivan asked.

"No."

"Yes! Of course it's true! And you're going to have to move once Yao comes back…"

"No, I am perfectly content right here."

"No seriously, he's not going to like that…" the young Asian stood and grabbed Ivan's arm to drag him to his side of the table, "just sit by me…"

"Here we are aru." Yao returned with the tea and poured everyone a cup, "So how are we all getting along?"

Kiet grew even redder if that was possible and refused to make eye contact with anyone. Hong calmly sipped his tea while Natalia sniffed it suspiciously. Yong Soo was trying to keep Ivan on his side of the kotatsu. Katyusha just smiled at him.

"I think we're getting along great!"

**

* * *

III. The Vargas'**

The General had warned them against talking to the Vargas'. He told them that he knew it was polite to introduce themselves to the other families in the neighborhood to make their stay their better, but not to do that with the Italians. They were just no good.

Naturally, this made Ivan curious, and a curious Ivan was usually up to no good anyway, so why not?

He managed to sneak into their backyard through a weakness in the hedges surrounding their property. Really they should be mindful of those things if they really didn't want anyone on their property. That's when Ivan saw the Vargas boys.

They were taking advantage of the nice spring weather to paint outside. Each had his own canvas set up and seemed to be doing landscapes, although in Ivan's opinion the one on the left was much better. A man with curly brown hair and bright green eyes was watching them work while he picked tomatoes from the garden. A squirrel ran by, startling the poor Russian in the bushes, making him cry out and jump away from it, insuring that the three pairs of eyes were on him when he came out of hiding.

"Wah!" the youngest screamed, "Scary bush people!"

"Antonio, save me damnit!" the other shouted as he hid behind the man, who seemed unperturbed at the intrusion into the yard.

"Hola! Who might you be?" he greeted with a smile.

"I, uh, I-I'm Ivan Braginski and I just moved in next door."

"So what are you doing in our yard bastard!"

He just wanted to play; the two Vargas kids were the only children his age in the neighborhood, but he couldn't just tell them that. What was it his sister said when things got awkward? "Uh…my dad's in the military…"

"What does that-?"

"Really? That's so cool; mine was too," the man laughed. The youngest joined him while his elder scoffed and buried his face into the man's leg. "We were having a Painting Hour. Would you like to join us?"

"Antonio you bastard! You can't just invite him to join us!"

"Oh, right sorry. I'm Antonio Fernandez Carriedo and these are my little cousins Lovino and Feliciano Vargas. Would you like to paint with us?"

"Grandpa's not gonna like you having random bush sneakers playing with us…" Lovino muttered.

"Ve, but it'll be fun! We never get to play with other kids outside of school," stated Feliciano.

Antonio just laughed, and it was infectious enough to get Ivan and Feliciano laughing in no time at all, and even Lovino cracked a smile eventually. A third canvas was set up, and Ivan Braginski spent the afternoon painting and eating pasta. It was a good day.

* * *

**IV. The Bielschmidts**

Ivan buried his face further into his scarf as the chilly autumn winds blew. The neighborhood had been quiet for the most part, but when Katyusha rang the doorbell, crashes and curses could be heard along with a shout of "Gilbert you moron," promising this house would be much more interesting.

A not-entirely-sober albino answered the door, "Can I help you?" he asked, staring right at Katyusha's vital regions.

"Uh, hi. My name's Katyusha Braginski and these are my siblings Ivan and Natalia. We just moved in next door and thought we'd come over and say hello," she offered him the pudding, but by this time another aristocratic looking man had appeared and he took it instead.

"Well hello Ms. Braginski," the albino leered as he dragged Katyusha into the house. Ivan and Natalia followed not far behind. "May I just say it's a thrill having you living next door from now on…"

"I'm sixteen and my dad's in the military."

"Never stopped me before…ow." A lady came from out of nowhere to whack him over the head with a frying pan.

"Really Gilbert," the other man lectured, "Ludwig can't afford to have you go to jail yet."

"Pft…"

"Sorry about him," he said as he shut the door, "I'm Roderich Edelstein; the one with the frying pan is my wife, Elizaveta," she hid the frying pan behind her back as if that would make a difference and smiled at them, "We live just down the street. Your ungracious host for the evening is Gilbert Bielschmidt."

"Yo," he waved a he took a sip of beer.

Roderich guided the trio into the kitchen, where a blonde woman and a blonde man were debating chocolate. The woman was holding an almost full pint of beer while the man had a gun. This probably would have disturbed Ivan if he wasn't so used to having various weapons and vodka around the house.

"In here we have Vash and Clara. Vash also lives down the street, but Clara is just visiting from out of town."

"Hello!" Clara greeted cheerfully as she put her beer down. Vash looked at them suspiciously.

"Who are these people? Were they at the door?"

"Yes, these are the Braginskis. They just moved in next door."

"My condolences," he said solemnly, "for having Gilbert as your neighbor."

"I'm not that bad!" Gilbert shouted from the hallway. A metallic sound like some sort of cooking implement striking a skull rang out shortly afterwards.

"Rupert and the kids are playing outside," Clara said as she got up and opened the backdoor, "the little ones can join them if they want."

It was better than staying inside and listening to the adults, so Ivan and Natalia scampered outside to see what was going on.

A tall man and two children were playing soccer, or as much of soccer as you can with three people.

"Rupert," Clara called sweetly from the doorway. The playing stopped as the three of them stared at the newcomers, "some more kids came over to play."

The girl looked up at them curiously; the boy looked away and continued kicking the soccer ball around. Rupert huffed and pulled out a pipe.

"Play nicely with them, will ya?" she winked before going back inside.

"So, who're you?" Rupert asked when he got his pipe lit.

"Ivan Braginski. This is my sister Natalia and we just moved it."

"Ludwig Bielschmidt," the boy announced, "this is my house. This is my cousin Heidi Zwingli. She's a little shy."

"My sister is too," Ivan smiled in a way he hoped was non-threatening. He had been told he had a creepy smile. "So…you guys were playing soccer yes?"

"Football," all three corrected.

"Well, I don't play much of either," he admitted.

"W-would you like to play with us?" Heidi shyly asked.

"Is that alright?"

"It's usually us against Rupert," Ludwig admitted, "But I guess he could use the help."

The older man exhaled and tapped the boy's head with his pipe, "Big talk considering you've yet to get the ball by me, Short Stuff. Take the new kids and make some friends…not like even the four of you can beat me."

Heidi gathered up enough nerve to stick her tongue out at him before running over and grabbing the younger Natalia's hand to guide to where they were playing. Ludwig nodded to Ivan, who ran over shortly behind them.

They played well into the night, and although Ivan discovered he was horrible at the game, causing Ludwig the shout a few choice curses (that he had learned from his brother, or so he was told) at him that he never heard the boy utter ever again, he also discovered that playing sports with other people was a lot more fun than watching them alone.

**

* * *

Bonus: V. Dinner at Alfred's**

"So who are these people again?"

"They just moved in next door, mon cher. No reason to feel threatened."

"I-I'm not threatened! I'm just wondering why they're still here…"

"They're here for dinner. It's rude to try and kick them out after you invited them, non?"

"Stop twisting my words! I merely want to know _why_ they are here _in the house_ in the first place…"

"We never have guests over anymore."

"We are trying to raise four kids here. We don't have time for an active social life."

"Not like you had much of one before…"

And it went on like that for some time. Back and forth, back and forth…Ivan found Alfred's fathers so amusing! He was glad they had invited them all for dinner after Mr. Kirkland got home.

They were all seated around the table in the kitchen, save for Mr. Kirkland and Mr. Bonnefoy, who were 'making dinner,' although Mr. Bonnefoy seemed to be doing most of the cooking, and Mr. Kirkland most of the skulking. Matthew assured him that this was for the better.

He was seated between Matthew and Jake, who would randomly poke him for some reason, with Angelique on Matthew's left. Natalia had glued herself to Alfred's side ever since meeting him outside, so he sat in between her and Katyusha. Ivan did not like this, although didn't exactly know why.

"Dinner is served!" Mr. Kirkland shouted eventually as he and Mr. Bonnefoy brought the food to the table.

"Bon appetite."

As soon as the food hit the table, Alfred and Jake lunged at it, gathering as much as they could on their tiny plates. Mr. Kirkland shouted some things about manners and having guests as he sat down at the end of the table between Jake and Natalia, but it was lost of the noise of their scuffle. Mr. Bonnefoy just laughed and put some of the food he was still carrying on Ivan's, Matt's, and Angelique's plates while he sat at the end of the table between his daughter and Katyusha.

When Al and Jake had all they could safely fit on their plates, everyone else had at what was left in a calm manner. Alfred sniffed a piece of meat on his plate before asking, "Did Dad make this or did Papa?"

"Papa," Mr. Kirkland responded as he dumped vegetables on Jake's plate. He seemed to have missed those somehow.

The eldest boy tossed the meat in his mouth and picked up something else. "What about this?"

"Papa."

"And this?"

"That was me."

"Natalia, do you want this?"

"Alfred!" Angelique shrieked, "You can't poison your girlfriend like that!" Al blushed as Natalia took the food from him and put it in her mouth anyway.

"She's not his girlfriend!" Ivan found himself shouting. The break from having her constantly by his side was nice, but her being his girlfriend implied so many things Ivan didn't want implied. Ever.

"Al and Natty sitting in a tree," Matt hummed under his breath.

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Jake shouted the continuation.

"Sh-shut up!" Alfred shouted, "It's not like that. Sh-she's just my friend…who happens to be a girl."

"First comes love," Matt went on anyway.

"Then comes marriage," Angelique joined in.

"Then comes the baby in the baby carriage!" all three siblings finished in fits of laughter. Little Natalia looked positively thrilled by the idea, Alfred went even redder then before, Ivan felt himself get even redder than him, if that was possible, and Katyusha found the whole thing amusing.

"Ah, l'amour," Mr. Bonnefoy said, staring into his wine. "It went something like that, oui mon cher?"

Mr. Kirkland coughed awkwardly and went as red as his son. "Yes, something like that. Angelique, you aren't dating until you're sixty."

"Dad, that's not fair! Shouldn't Papa get a say?"

"Indeed I should. Angelique, you aren't dating until you're sixty-five."

"That's not fair! The boys don't have any restrictions…"

"Quite right," Mr. Kirkland amended, "Boys, you can't date anyone until you're thirty."

"Fine by me," Jake muttered as he picked at his potatoes. Natalia shot Mr. Kirkland a death glare, but it went unnoticed.

The rest of the dinner conversation was just as interesting, interrupted by praises to Mr. Bonnefoy's cooking while the children poked fun at Mr. Kirkland's. It all led up to dessert, some delicious chocolate mousse cake made by Mr. Bonnefoy, and coffee for Mr. Bonnefoy, Katyusha, and Alfred for some reason, with tea for Mr. Kirkland and hot chocolate for everyone else. Ivan and his sisters eventually had to go home when Natalia fell asleep, clinging to Alfred's arm, at around 9:30.

Ivan was sad to go, but knew that this was going to be one summer he'd never forget.


	13. Peter

**Sorry it took so long to update. I am made of fail. orz**

**Pairings: France/England, Sweden/Finland**

**Enjoy.  
**

* * *

"What is it this time?" Arthur sighed as he sat down in the chair across the desk from the principal.

"Same old, same old," she sighed, "Fighting with Ivan Braginski."

"Of course…"

"Mr. Kirkland," the principal leaned forward, resting her head in her hands as she stared him down, "I've talked to your husband about this in the past, but this problem _still_ hasn't gone away."

"Alfred is a bit…defensive, I suppose…"

"He pushed Ivan during recess. Alfred _initiated _it this time."

"I'm sure that Russian brat deserved it…"

"Mr. Kirkland!" the principal exclaimed, "We do _not_ tolerate fighting in school! Ivan's father has already been called, but disciplinary measures must be taken."

"You're not going to suspend him are you? He's only six, he doesn't know any better!"

"Maybe you should _teach _him that, Mr. Kirkland."

Arthur sighed and put a hand to his face. "Ms. Karpusi, I don't know if you have kids, but-"

"I happen to have a son, Mr. Kirkland. He doesn't get into fights."

Arthur fidgeted as the principal took on a more pitying look. "You're young, and I know parenting is hard, but _please_ talk to your son about his fighting. It may just be schoolyard tussles with Ivan now, but trust me when I say it could grow into something much worse. I've seen it happen before, and Alfred is a good kid. I'd hate for him to go down a bad path."

"Right…I'll talk to him," he said as he stood up.

"Please do. No disciplinary action will be taken this time, but Ivan's father has already taken him home to cool off. Perhaps you should do the same with Alfred?"

* * *

And so, Arthur found himself eating ice cream with his son on a Wednesday afternoon.

"Alfred, why did you push Ivan?"

"'Cause he was bugging Feli," Alfred answered between licks.

"Are you sure they weren't just talking?"

"Yes! He started pokin' and playin' with his curl and you know how he hates that so I tried to distract him."

"By pushing him?"

"It worked didn' it?"

"I guess…but next time, please try something less violent."

"…Fine…" he pouted.

Arthur smiled at his son and ruffled his hair as his cell rang.

"_Arthur Kirkland?_" a hurried voice on the other end asked.

"Yes, how may I help you?"

"_This is Dr. Simmons from St. Mercy Hospital. George and Elizabeth Kirkland were admitted earlier today and you were listed as their next of kin."_

"Y-yes, I'm their son," even if he hadn't spoken to his mother in over two years and his father since… "What happened?"

"_Mr. Kirkland, your parents were in a car accident this morning and are currently in critical condition._"

What? That couldn't be right…his parents were the safest drivers on the planet. They would crash like that…especially not if Peter was with them. Oh god Peter!

"What about…?"

"_Your brother Peter is currently under the care of a Mr. Roderich Edelstein. Actually, Mr. Edelstein was the one who gave us your phone number, since it's not in your parent's file anywhere._"

"S-so…are they both there?"

"…_Yes, they're here. Peter wasn't in the car at the time, so he is perfectly unharmed."_

Thank god for that. "What hospital did you say it was?"

"_St. Mercy Hospital. Do you know where that is, Mr. Kirkland?"_

"Y-yes, I know," he had broken his arm once when he was ten, and again when he was eleven. That was the only hospital in his hometown, "Th-thank you," Arthur hung up without another word.

"Dad?" Alfred asked, "Is everything okay?"

"Al, we're going on a little trip…"

* * *

Francis glanced back up at the clock. 8 PM, and still no word from Arthur. Normally this wouldn't be too much cause for concern except that Alfred was missing as well. He sat in the living room trying to figure out what exactly it was that he did to make his husband take Alfred away again.

When the phone rang, bringing him out of his train of thought, Francis was startled for all five seconds before he pounced on it.

"Allo?"

"_Hullo, Francis, it's Arthur_," Arthur replied unnecessarily, as Francis could recognize his voice anywhere, "_Sorry I haven't called…_"

"That's quite alright _mon cher_. Where are you?"

"_The hospital._"

On Francis's list of Worst Possible Answers to That Question, that one ranked second just before 'Your Ex's Place' and just under 'The Twilight Zone.' "What? Are you - is Alfred - what happened?"

"_No, we're quite alright…thanks for asking…_"

"_Mon cher_, you seem out of it. What happened?"

"…_My parents died._"

Oh, well…Francis never actually got along with Arthur's parents. They saw him merely as one of Gilbert's hooligan friends and they never forgave him for running off with their son. Still, his own parents had died when he was nine, and he knew that pain never really went away. "I'm sorry, Arthur. Do you need me to come down there?"

"_No…I'm just…Alfred and I are going to stay with Roderich until the funeral, so…_"

"I understand. Don't hesitate to call me if you need anything, alright?"

"_Yes…I won't. Give the children my love._"

"Of course. Do you know when you're coming home?"

"…_The funeral's going to be next Monday. Probably Tuesday sometime._"

"Then I will see you then?"

"_Yes, of course. See you then. Love you._"

Arthur actually admitted that? Without Francis bugging him or any alcohol in his system? He must really have been out of it. "I love you too. Tell Alfred that too. And Arthur,"

"_Yes?_" he sounded scared and unsure over the phone and Francis wanted nothing more than to take him into his arms and make all the bad thoughts he was sure to be having go away. But he was here, and Arthur was there.

"Everything is going to be alright, you know that right?"

"_I know…just…I'll call you tomorrow._" And with that, he hung up.

* * *

Roderich and Vash volunteered to help Arthur with the funeral preparations, as he was still not all there during the next few days. In fact, Arthur spent most of the days leading up to the funeral with Peter and Alfred, but his cousins didn't mind.

After the funeral, family members and other people Arthur never thought he'd see again gave him, Peter, and Alfred their condolences. Arthur hid his sadness behind a mask and thanked them, even those who were insincere. Alfred, brave lad, still didn't quite know what was going on, but put a smile on his face, acted like the perfect little gentleman that his dad tried to make him, and tried everything in his power to cheer Peter up. The youngest Kirkland, however, was having none of that, refusing to even make eye contact with anyone throughout the day. He had warmed up to Arthur and Alfred after he found out Arthur was his brother, but on the day of the funeral he became cold and distant to both of them.

The next day George and Elizabeth's lawyer gathered everyone together to figure out what to do with Peter.

"I guess there's no real choice," Arthur's Uncle William sighed, "We'll have to take the brat."

"Dad," Clara snapped, "you don't have room in your new house for a child!"

"What you want him?"

"Of course not! I'm still too young and a free spirit to take care of child."

"My mother's fallen ill again," Vash stated, "Peter can stay with us for a little, but we can't give him permanent residence."

"Well, _we _would take care of him," Arthur's Uncle Edward, "but we just got rid of ours. Speaking of, Roderich, you're living alone. Surely you can take care of him?"

"I would, but Elizaveta and I were talking about moving in together. I don't think we're ready for kids just yet."

"Arthur should take him in," Gilbert's father suggested, "he's the closest living relative the boy has left."

"Yeah," Rupert sighed, "plus he has like twelve kids already. Adding one more shouldn't be a problem."

"_Arthur?_" Rupert's mother, Alice, screeched, "That little punk couldn't raise a well adjusted child in _his_ household!"

"Sitting right here Auntie," Arthur stated, "and my children are doing quite well, thanks for asking."

"I'm sure they are considering their…circumstances…"

"And those would be?"

"Well, I don't know," Roderich's mother, Allison, said, "maybe the fact their stuck with a failure like you as one parent and filth like Francis Bonnefoy as the other."

Arthur gripped the arm of his chair until his knuckles turned white, "There is nothing wrong with my household. There most certainly isn't anything wrong with Francis or me, and if you _dare_ say there is anything wrong with my children…"

"Oh nothing's _wrong_ with your children Arthur dear, if you consider crack babies and children who are more beastlike then human _normal._"

"Don't forget that illegitimate one!" Aunt Alice cackled, "And Arthur isn't it true you just _bought_ another one for an even more incompetent parent than you?" Both Aunts joined in the cackling.

"I didn't _buy _him you gossiping wenches!" Arthur snarled, "And you only wish you were half the parent Yao is!"

"Of course you would think that you sinful boy! You married _Francis _of all people!"

"How could you _not_ know that boy was trouble? He hung out with _Gilbert _of all people…"

"Do you have an issue there with my son?" Gilbert's father growled, "If so, I suggest you take it up with _me_."

"Oh come now," she waved, "it's not your fault he's a complete failure. Everyone has a bad seed, but at least you have Ludwig now."

"I wouldn't talk if I were you, considering everyone knows what _your_ son gets up to."

"W-what are you insinuating?"

"Mom, I'm a pothead," Rupert sighed, "get over it."

"Why I never…"

"This is why I hate family get-togethers," Vash sighed as the two aunts turned on each other.

"E-excuse me…" the lawyer finally spoke up, "I have the late Mr. and Mrs. Kirkland's wills right here."

"Moron," Roderich reprimanded, "why didn't you speak up sooner?"

"Sorry, but well…"

"Out with it! Who gets what?" Edward screeched.

"W-well, it seems Mrs. Kirkland made a will separate from Mr. Kirkland…"

"I don't see the problem there," William scoffed, "my sister wouldn't have differed too much from what her husband wanted, I'm sure."

"And she didn't really, except, well…"

"Out with it man!" Vash exclaimed, "Just say what you want to say!"

"Mr. Kirkland has left everything in his estate to his nephew, Roderich Edelstein," Roderich's parents looked peeved that they were passed over for their son, but let it slide, "however, _Mrs._ Kirkland has left most of her estate to, uh…"

"Not Roderich?" Gilbert's father guessed.

"Of course, Roderich is far too young to handle _everything_ they had," William stated, "We'll probably end up taking care of the other half."

"Actually, Mrs. Kirkland left everything _she_ owned to her son, Arthur Kirkland."

"What?" the aunts and uncles screeched.

"That punk?"

"After he ran out on her and broke her poor little heart?"

"He hasn't contacted them in _years_, what was she thinking?"

"Clearly she wasn't in her right mind!"

"You know," a different voice spoke up from the back of the room, "I think you're missing the point of the whole thing. You know that whole what to do with Peter thing?"

"No one asked _you_ Oxenstierna!" Aunt Alice hissed, "Why are you even here anyway?"

Mathias just grinned, "The lawyer invited us, and why shouldn't we be here? We're family!" Berwald nodded in agreement.

"Mathias has a point," Vash stated, "Who's getting custody of Peter?"

"Roderich already said he couldn't take him," Gilbert's father said, "So that leaves Arthur."

"A-actually…" the lawyer spoke up again.

"You again!" Vash slammed his hands on the table, "Why can't you just say what you mean right at the beginning!"

"Vash calm down and let the man talk," Roderich sighed.

"Yes, well…Mr. Kirkland made it _very_ clear in his will that Arthur wasn't to get anything of his."

"So that means he only gets everything solely owned by his mom?" Mathias chuckled, "Tough break there Artie."

"Piss off Mathias."

"So if neither Arthur nor Roderich can take Peter," Alice sighed, "I guess…"

"I'll take 'im," Berwald stated.

"Y-you!" she sneered, "Why would _you_ take him?"

"He's got nowhere else to go right?" the tall man shrugged, "'N he's family. He should stay with the family that'll take care of him. Plus the wife 'n I were thinking about getting a kid soon anyway."

"Dude," his cousin interrupted, "Does Tino know you still call him your wife?"

"This is preposterous!" Uncle Edward exclaimed, "You!" he pointed at the lawyer, "You can't just send Peter off to live with…Oxenstiernas!"

"W-well, Mr. Oxenstierna is perfectly qualified to take care of Peter…"

"You can't be serious!" Aunt Allison screeched.

"And based on what I've seen today, well, he's probably the only one in the room I'd trust with the boy."

"Peter needs to stay with family!" Aunt Alice screamed, "You can't just send him off with…_them_."

"Berwald Oxenstierna is family," the lawyer explained, "We've already talked it over with child services, and well…"

"So," Arthur glared, "You already made your choice before this meeting, haven't you?"

"Yes, my decision on this matter is final, and the courts will back me up on that: Berwald Oxenstierna will gain full guardianship over Peter Kirkland."

* * *

"No!" Peter shouted as he clung to Arthur's leg, "I don't wanna go!"

"I'm sorry Peter," he crouched down to his brother's eye level. His brother that he only found out about a few years ago, and who he was only just starting to get to know, "I…I know you'd rather stay with Alfred and me, but Berwald can-"

"No!" he shouted even louder than before, "I don't wanna go! I wanna stay!"

"Dad," Arthur looked over at Alfred, who was looking at him with those blue eyes of his, "Why can't Peter come with us?"

"Because…" he bit his lip as he thought of the right words to explain the situation, "there are some battles that just aren't worth fighting."

Peter suddenly stopped struggling and screaming, "I'm…not worth fighting for?"

"No! Not at all!" Arthur quickly tried to correct his mistake, "It's more like, you'll be better off with Berwald than with me."

"But…" Peter buried his face into Arthur's chest, "but you have my eyebrows…"

Arthur wrapped his arms tightly around him in a hug, "I'm sorry Peter. I know this is hard for you and you've been handling it brilliantly, you've been so strong, but you need to be strong for a little while longer okay?"

Peter clung to his jacket even tighter, "But…"

"It'll be fine," Berwald said as he crouched down behind Peter, who turned in Arthur's arms to face him, "You can come stay with me and my wife for a little, and you can visit your brother whenever you want."

Peter sniffled before shyly asking, "When…whenever I want?"

Berwald nodded in response. Arthur slowly lowered his arms as Peter walked over and took his and instead and both adults stood up.

"That goes for you too," Berwald said to Arthur, "M'sure Tino and the others won't mind if you visit."

"That's…" Although they were cousins, Arthur did not know Berwald very well. The Oxenstiernas and the Beilschmidts had a falling out well before either of them was born, and as such the two sides of the family never got together. When they were forced to meet in situations such as this, there was always fighting and more than one trip to the hospital/local police station. But with Peter, who was more or less a Beilschimdt, being raised by the Oxenstiernas, perhaps this was the chance the family needed to finally patch things up.

At the very least, the rest of Arthur's family wanted nothing to do with him, so why not make amends with the other side?

"Yes, of course. I'd be glad to."

With a curt nod and a small smile, Berwald and Peter left.

* * *

"Dad?" Alfred asked on the drive home.

"Yes?" Arthur had been surprised how quiet and well behaved Alfred had been throughout the whole ordeal. If he didn't know any better, he would have sworn he'd picked up Matthew at school that day by mistake again.

"Peter couldn't come stay with us, right?"

"He's your uncle Alfred; you should address him as such. It's only proper."

"But he's younger than me…"

"Even so."

"Well, Uncle Peter couldn't live with us…because of me right?"

Arthur looked over to see him fiddling with his hands and looking out the window, "What makes you say that?"

"You and Papa hafta take care of me and Matt and Jake and Angie and Hong already, and I'm always gettin' into fights and gettin' the others in trouble and stuff. If I wasn't around then you could take care of Peter instead…and he's your real brother, so it woulda been better…"

True, if he and Francis didn't already have the responsibility of five other children, that lawyer may have granted him guardianship over Peter. Even so…

Arthur pulled the car over to the side of the road to give Alfred his full attention and waited until blue eyes met green before speaking, "Alfred Kirkland-Bonnefoy, no matter what anyone ever says to you or if they try to tell you different, know this: You are my son, and I wouldn't trade you or Matthew or Jake or Angelique or Hong away for anyone or anything in the whole world."

Alfred smiled and crawled out of his seatbelt so he could hug Arthur, "I…I wouldn't trade you or Papa either," he said in his shoulder, "Not even for my real parents."

"I'm, uh…" Arthur awkwardly returned the gesture, "I'm glad."

"Can we go home now? I wanna eat Papa's cooking again," Alfred said as he slipped out of his father's hold and back into his seat.

"Oh is that how it is," Arthur smiled as he got back on the road, "I guess if you're so eager to go home and eat frogs, we won't stop by McDonalds then."

"No no! I wanna stop I wanna stop!"

"That's what I thought." Even if his son had somehow developed a taste for French food and greasy burgers, Arthur still wouldn't trade him for all the blood relatives in the world.

* * *

**A/N: A few people asked me after the Mother's Day special how Peter went from his mother to the Nordics. Well now you know.**

**The Aunts and Uncles are really only there to be annoying, so I made up most of their names on the spot. The only name of real noteworthyness is Rupert(Netherlands) and Clara(Belgium)'s father, William. As in William of Orange.  
**


End file.
